Leach Library Trustees - Regular Meeting

I call this meeting to order at 7 p.m. Yes. Okay. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. But we are recording and all that right now, right? Yes.

Okay. Thank you. Oh. So, all right. Okay. All right. So, new business and discussion. I'm fine if there's a particular order that you guys want to do. I figured starting with the potentially lengthiest part will will help us out. Yep. Okay. All right. So, Donna, do you want to do any intros to um to budget or purchasing policy? Uh, which was the lengthy do that? Oh, uh, I was thinking the budget. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, so I sent you the

Mhm. transa well I'm going to call transaction reports for fiscal year 24 25 26 um for the um utilities I did include cleaning cuz I figured that is closely related to maintenance and um the maintenance line and I also I didn't pull it up I also made this I figured this might be helpful. As we're going through the budget lines, I just plugged in totals in terms of what was budgeted, what was spent.

Um, and then also put in what budget passed for FY27. And then, um, these are numbers I came up with as suggestions for 28. Mhm. Um, and I can go through why. Yes, please. Yes. Um, I would like to learn. So, just right off the bat, the telephone and snow removal we've haven't funded the whole time I've been here. So, I plugged them in so you knew they existed as lines, but um yeah, both services are covered under the town. Oh, nice. Okay.

So, we haven't had to fund anything in those um custodial. So, I I not I usually Well, not for me. Aaron usually would reach out to um our custodial company because we contract that service um to see if they're anticipating increases. Um I do think it's a little early to ask them for 28, but I can reach out. Um I know that that did happen for last year and that's why we had that increase. Um Oh, okay. Yeah,

I saw this pattern of them having the same cost for I actually looked back at fiscal year 23. It was the same for three years. So I'm hopeful that um this number might be acceptable at least for another year. Okay. Um so that's why I plug I did no change. Okay. In that line. Um but I will still reach out to them to see if they can give us any guidance on Mhm. Um cost for them. Yeah. Sorry. question. Y uh is this a contract that you have? Is this with the town? Do they have the same cleaning company or It's a contract that the library has, but it is the same cleaning company that the town hall uses. Okay.

Um police has its own um custodian like paid through them, but Oh, gotcha. Okay. I don't know. I don't think fire currently has a contract from my knowledge. They think they've been doing their own cleaning. Oh. But um I don't know how much they've been able to sustain that. So and they have more than one firehouse. Yeah. Oh, okay. Wow. Well, yeah. So, but I know um our service is the same one the town hall uses. Okay. And if you're happy with them and if you're able to reach out to them and ask them and if they say we don't have anything right now, then Mhm. that's what we've got. We work with what we got. Yeah. Yeah.

Um electric. So I actually decreased this a little bit. So if you look um we had the same budget in electric for I think at least three fiscal years and then um in 26 when we had to cut this year that line was looked at. Um the current amount spent is a reflection of 9 months. So I took the the average cost for 9 months and then projected for the last 3 months. But the problem with 26 is that with the with the building not being really occupied that that number isn't really

solid for operational like full year. Yeah. Um we don't we didn't have patrons in plugging their devices in and you know same with staff. Um I mean some staff but not really what we have. Is there a chance that having the new rooftop units and things like that will also contribute to a lower cost because they will be running at maximum efficiency? Yes. Excellent. Or potentially higher cost because we're not where some of them not running at all. Uh one of them is not running and it's the smallest one. Okay. And then the other ones were inefficient. So maybe it'll balance out. It could either balance out or actually help more like take more cost off. I think

um for FY27 though, I remember during the budget discussion, we we got some input from the um budget committee. I believe it was Kate that was commenting on this.

Um I think she had she was actually looking at data involving um electricity costs like overall going up. But the other thing that that really controls our electric cost um we fall under a contract that the town um has with um I don't know if it's directly Eversource or just a supplier but um I believe it's a three or fiveyear contract and I don't know where the town is on it right now. Okay. So, if if we're if we're talking in FY28 that they're having to renew that contract and we're looking at a different rate, that could change things. That could have also been the reason why we increased it for 27. I'm not sure. Mhm.

So, I think that might be a good question to pose to our budget committee leaison. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um they should know where the town is in the contract and potentially have some insight into trends overall. Okay. And this is one of those general categories that they just got to be aware of for everyone. It's not niche.

So, what I did is I plugged in for now the um budget that we' had some time ago that stayed flat for a few years. Um because I I do feel like 43,000 is probably high. Um but if if we find out that no costs are going to continue tren trending up and the town's looking at um renewing their contract soon that maybe we keep the 43,000. I don't know.

So that was just a suggestion to start. um heat and oil. I am I found in doing that same kind of projection for this year that the um I think the 16,000 we dropped to for 27 when we were cutting again. Um I think is what we cut too much. Yeah. Um so I was suggesting a 5% increase for 28. Um, I do agree that the 23,000 that we were at was too high. Like we we constantly didn't get close to it. Um, but I think we may have cut it too much for Okay. 27.

Do you know why they were aiming so high? Um, I just feel like it's one of those numbers that's like stayed there forever and it's probably helped in like it's a bottom line budget so it's probably helped make up for lines that we overspend. Mhm. Um, but in trying to make lines more realistic, transform. Yeah, I think that's why it was cut so much. Um, sorry. Nope. Go ahead. I was going to I was going to ask how, you know, based on my earlier question, this might attempt to sound like I know what I'm talking about. Um, the with the current prediction for oil prices increasing and all that, how do we account for that in our

request? Cuz I don't know how to do that, but I feel like that's something we're going to want to be mindful of. So, our heat is natural gas. Okay. Um, so we want to look at that rather than oil. That's good to know. I did not know that. And our I I mean, again, that's another thing that the budget committee could help us with. Okay. Yeah. If they're noticing a trend that we need to account for, is the entire town on natural gas, like the town building? That I do not know. Okay. So, that'll be a good Yeah, that' be a good question to see. And our unit is going to be getting some service work. Is that true? Our heating. Yeah.

Um the boiler is the one that was just got a new motor because it failed on us. Um that I did include in the CIP as possible replacing in the future. It's not like the big need and priority right now compared to the rooftop units. Um, but I can Are we going to schedule like a service of it? Like has it been serviced? Yeah, it's gotten like preventative maintenance. Okay. I thought so, but then I was confused. It's under It's under contract with our with Okay. So, it gets regular preventative maintenance. Um, and as things break, we're fixing it. Okay. We just weren't sure how old the actual unit was.

Yes. So, we we did figure that out and um learned that while the unit itself will probably keep lasting us, it's it's not high efficiency. It's not a high efficiency unit. So, there's definite benefit to replacing it because of that. So, that's why it's in the CF. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's a good point. Awesome. Thank you. Yep. Um water again is another one we could pass by. Um budget committee. Mhm. Um the water line is both like water usage in the building and the um sewer bill. Okay. Mhm. Um that's just paid back to the town sewer.

Um I did a 5% decrease um because I looked at again this year is not a great Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. number. I feel like we've needed to do some work this year. we haven't had the same usage recently. Um, so I did it I did this based mainly on um I think we had increased it quite a bit because we were noticing we were overspending compared to other budget years. Um and then I based on like kind of where we're at for this year, I'm suggesting a decrease for Mhm. 28.

Okay. So, maintenance and repairs is that for all those things, including heat and oil, electrical. No. No. Maintenance and repairs is its own line. Okay. Um, it is what covers preventative maintenance. It's what covers the contracts that the board approves. Um, right now, which I don't love that it's in there. Um, the public photocopier actually gets built to that line. Yeah. Um, I think that that should go to the printing line, but there's not enough money in the printing line to like we'd have to move money to cover it. Right now, the printing line has the staff copier lease, but not the public. Oh, and it's the same Is it the same company? No. No.

Okay. Two different companies. Two different companies.

So, that's a suggestion to think about. Yeah. Um but we would have to move money either add just flat out add money to the printing line or move money from maintenance to the printing line. Um the other thing that I mean I don't know if this group wants to come up with a recommendation for the board but the board as a whole needs to um decide on what to do with Sean's um proposal I guess is what you would call it to um with the maintenance line either through the through the memorandum of agreement to break up more clearly what maintenance is covered by the town

and what's covered by the library. Um or to hand over more like maintenance responsibility to the town. Um and this was coming from a place of the library having a flat maintenance line budget of 25,000 for I don't even know how long it's been. Yeah. Um and there's been a lot of variety in terms from year to year and in how much is spent. Like I was looking at FY23 and that year um the maintenance line was spent in the 40,000s.

Um and you see there's some years where like super close to 25,000 but then we have a 30,000 and this year um I mean this is not going to be the final number. Um so I I definitely suggest an increase just because of the situation this year. I'm suggesting 10%. But I think the bigger thing you really have to consider is what you're going to do with Sean's suggestion. Mhm. Um I think there's pros and cons either way. Can you just repeat what Sean's suggest? I don't know much about this.

So um this was the budget status. It happened during the budget status meeting. I think you were there. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um Sean had suggested that because of like deferred maintenance being a big part of the conversation related to all that's happened with the building um and that the library really not having the funds needed to appropriately maintain the building. um that an option is for the town to essentially take the responsibility of maintenance. Um but it would involve the board giving up control in that sense.

Okay. Um, it also probably, I don't know for sure, but it would probably mean that line going somewhere on the town end instead. Um, and potentially waiting much longer for repairs to be addressed because we will, right? You know, our board convenes every 3 days if we have to. Yeah. And the town council is not likely to be able to do that, right? They're on a twice a month schedule. Yeah. Um I also I mean this is not anything against town council. Um it's just that the library board like that the the priority is the library and the town council has so many buildings. Yeah. Um so you're

potentially losing that priority um or that sense of priority. I I also understand like technically the director is not really professionally trained generally on building maintenance issues. Mhm. Yes. Hi. Is this a public meeting? Yeah, this is a public meeting. Is this about the town's budget? No, this is about the library budget. Oh, yeah. This is the financial adop committee. You're welcome to come in and sit down and listen. This is it's a public and open meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Um when it comes to money, everything is important, right? Yeah, absolutely.

Agreed. Because the money has to come from somewhere. Yeah. Yep. All right. Go ahead. Um I don't remember where I left off. So um there are benefits and drawbacks to the propos. So yeah, the priority is something to think about. The the timeliness of making a decision. The um I guess a pro could be that you know if your director is not really wellversed in building maintenance or um you just would rather have someone that that's like their whole job like someone in DPW um likely would be the one to help us more with maintenance. Um that could be considered a pro.

Um do you have someone who helps out from DPW with things or Okay. Okay. for sure. Um it's been a great a great relationship. I think honestly I credit Aaron and like building that relationship more um because DPW has been super willing to help us whenever we need it.

Yeah. Um, so where that is already there in place, I think there could also be some kind of like middle ground compromise where something in the MOA is included to be more specific about the areas that are covered by the town. Or maybe it's even a dollar amount, honestly. like if it's um the board could put a dollar amount that they're comfortable considering our budget's probably going to stay at the 25,000 um where they would need to kind of hand things off to the town when something big like that comes up.

So that it's not necessarily just put off because we know there's no money. It's brought to the town's attention. Mhm. Um that would probably be more of my suggestion is finding that like middle ground compromise. Okay. Um but obviously board gets to decide whatever you feel is best. Are you are you aware of any towns that have MOAs with their DPW? So the board has an MOA already with town council. Um, but the MOA doesn't have any as far as on my memory because I haven't looked at it in a little while. Um, there's nothing in there that's specific to

the type of maintenance that the town would oversee versus the board. I think that MOA is only as new as Shawn coming into the So, it's literally one version and we can just keep adjusting the version to be more specific as needed. Okay. Yeah, which I mean it is very nice particularly in a system like ours where we've got a lot of overlap but our separate governances to be able to be to have it very specifically laid out who's responsible for what. So I don't I don't see an MOA or or using the MOA to address this more formally as being a bad thing in the future. Yeah. Okay.

Especially, you know, people change positions. So if you know there was turnover in any direction, it's just nice to have it all explicitly right now and then you don't have to go back and relearn, you know. Yeah. You're not reinventing the wheel every time. Yeah. And just being like, "Wait, remind me again." Or, you know, who's the most senior person that remembers when this need to get done? We're going through the the meeting minutes now. Yeah. Is it uh possible for us to get a copy of the ML just to look over? Yep. Okay. Yeah. I like that. And Dave's amazing, but like if Dave left, somebody else came in, like you have to hope for amazing. Like Yeah.

Yeah. And he's great with with communication, too. Both like on social and just emailing him about general town stuff. And you might you might have a different person who has a different strength. Yeah. So that changes the dynamic comment right now. So we know it. Yeah. Yeah. Can Can I be allowed to say something to you, Amber? Um we are. We're going to try to keep it to an hour of the meeting. So, if you want to give some words, I I don't want to take a lot of your time because you this is really important. We do have a public comment period coming up too. And so, my first question, what is an MOA? Memorandum of agreement.

Okay. Okay. So, um I I'm I'm kind of working on another project, meaning the what they refer to as a Morrison meeting house. Okay. Mhm. You know what I mean? And and so that's a project in itself that we don't know where it's going, but right I happen to go to the town of Salem. Okay. Because they did a similar thing with their town hall. Okay.

And they really learned a lot. One of the things I learned is they have a individual. He's actually part of the DPW, but his job is just Tom buildings. And they also have contractors that they have chosen that are on I don't know if they're on retainer, but they they're uh contractors they know that are good, reliable people. And part of the problem you folks have had with that building is there a lot of things that happened that weren't done correctly and now you're living with it. Okay. M

now you're dealing with it and it's going to cost a lot of money and you you you're doing the right thing. I'm not finding fault in anything you're doing. But I think I think maybe what we've learned what you've learned is how are we going to avoid the mistakes that were made in the past. Okay. And so I'm suggesting that maybe that might be a thought and maybe something you'll look at is is establishing who are really good contractors. May you know what I do is I learn from other towns. Yeah. You know, and maybe that would be a good idea because like you say, we have Dave Wallally. Okay.

Mhm. With all due respect, his focus is DPW. Okay. He's also in charge of buildings. Mhm. Personally, I think that's a little too much. You know, in the case of Salem, they have one individual that's his focus. Mhm. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's a good point. My conversation with him, he's really into it. Really, really good. And he has some good contractors that he knows if he has a problem with a roof, a window, door, whatever. Mhm. because if if they can't handle it, they know who to call. They're going to do the job, right? That's true. That is a benefit where

they would have um relationships already built that are solid that are, you know, quick to rely on for Yeah. Fast. Because when you have a problem, then now you got to say, well, who are we going to get? We got this contract that we don't know much about them, but supposedly they're good and we're hoping they do a good job. But if you if you if you have over years period of time years that you know these people are reliable, right? They're there when we need them and they're going to take care of the problem.

Right. And I will say that our relationship with a close relationship with DV DPW has um we've benefited a lot in those same relationships where like Dave will say, "Oh, I've worked with this person. They're great. Start with them to get a quote like um so you have that kind of Yeah. So, it's it's definitely there. I can see what how that would be maybe even faster. But but if you if you have a relationship and you know if you call them up and say, "Hey, you got to come in." You know what they're going to charge per hour. You know, they they're treating you squarely. Right. Right. And and so maybe that's a good thing. Yeah. To do.

Yeah. Absolutely. Um, and I do know that that was part of Sean's idea is to um appoint or have a position that's just dedicated to buildings. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's definitely a good especially as a topic. I've said enough. I'm going to leave. What you do? Could I please have your name and address for the record? Yeah. Ray Mhm. Berlin. B R E S L N. Mhm. Um Oh, my address. Three Gary Drive. Three Gary Drive. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I'm I'm taking the minutes, so I have to include those, but I appreciate that. Thank you for your input and for coming. What you folks do. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great day. Have a good night and stay dry out there.

And by the way, the library I went over to the library today because I had a problem with my computer. Guess what? I forget the lady's name. The girl's name. Becca probably. She sat down, helped me out, and um um actually it was a problem with the town. Mhm. And she was nice and said, "I'll call the lady." And the lady fixed it and now I'm back on track. That's awesome. Y that's good. Well, we'll let Becca know. Thank you very much. Have a great evening. You too. All right. Thank you. Okay.

Um Yeah. So, do you want to delve any more into that tonight or do you I think I've got enough questions that um I can ask the budget liaison to kind of start that conversation and develop that relationship and come back to you because I feel like there's enough questions that if we get those answered in some way, shape or form, we'll better be able to reflect this. And those seem like absolutely appropriate starting points to work from too budget. Yeah. And I don't look at any of those and go, "Wow, that's unreasonable." So, in in either direction. So, yeah. Yeah. Um, do you want me I don't know how quickly you want to move, do you want to pick budget lines to do the same thing with at the next meeting? Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's probably I think it's helpful. Yeah. Like you said, instead of trying to do one meeting where we go through the entire the budget, you know, and then of course with the rest of the trustee board, we'll be going through it and actually voting on the things. So, I think this is Yeah, this is manageable. What do you think next? Okay. Um, I'm probably thinking more of the like supply or Mhm. Um, trying to think I don't know if you want to delve into programming. That would be management services. Let's do that. Yeah.

So, supply management services. So, we have an office supply line and then we have a um I want to say it's processing. I I know we charge processing to it. I just can't remember the exact name of it. Sure. Um so, there's two like what I consider supply lines and then um if we want to look at programming. Yeah, programming. So, management services includes programming. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, I like that. I like that. But then again, this past several months of programming has probably been a little bit lopsided with the building.

But I think the library has also done a great job pivoting with programs. So yeah, so it looks seamless to to patrons, which is which is good. Okay. Yeah, I like that as an action item. Yeah, I'm down with that, too. Okay, does that sound good to you, Beth? Absolutely. Cool. This feels a lot less painful than I was anticipating. Um, all right. So, if we're good with that, if you want to I'll note that that's because Donna is so organized. There's no part of this, the fact that on top of her stuff.

Yeah. But thank you also for pulling these together cuz it helps just to give us an idea of like the cleaning fees and when and what you pay for, too. Mhm. So, I think and it will be I mean with those it's I feel like the ones we we've looked at aside from maintenance that's a little bit of everything but the utilities is like it's the same one every month. Um whereas I think as we get into supplies and programming it's going to be all over the place which which will be good to see though. Would you is it really painful for you to make this this quick like graph or wrong table for us? Yeah. Is that painful to do before a meeting or does that take a lot of time?

No. I um so I pulled There's I actually pulled these numbers from the town budget report and then um I just looked up our current Well, I gave you our current Yep. And then um in terms of my recommendation, I'm Mhm. just using what I had to recommendations. Is that Would it be okay to ask you to do that again for the next Yeah. month ones? Because that this I find this layout really helpful. The colors. The colors.

Yeah. I'm like, "Okay, see how each of these has gone. Like, this is great." But like seeing it laid out like this, I'm like, "Now my brain can make those comparisons really fast and see the trends you're talking about." So, I really appreciate that. If that's if that's not too much to ask millions of dollars, I can do that. Yeah. And this will be great for the board, too, because the board is now more willing to to listen. Yes. Um, and these charts make a huge difference.

And I figure as we go, we're really eventually we'll have the whole budget laid out like this with your recommendations. And I think it'll also be helpful for advocating for this budget with the town and with the town's people ahead of like the voting on it and things like that to be able to say here like we have all looked at this and we can we have laid it out and you can see this too and and communicating with the budget committee so that recommendations that they have um and I'll ask that we can bring to the board instead of trying to backtrack and then ask them for because they're part of the process too so might as well include them early. Have you been able to like start working with Nicole?

I did send her uh a response a couple weeks ago. I know things have probably um been busy, so I haven't gotten a response, but I will follow up um just to let her know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure we're Yeah. Yep. Keeping that open line of communication. And I know you're a treasurer, so this like squarely falls in your purview. Like this is not an attempt to take any work from you that you don't want to do or anything, but like if you need an extra set of hands, please let me know cuz Yeah, of course. I'll happily chip in. I think it helps to have like the action items and so knowing what questions to ask the budget committee is huge and I'm more than willing to ask if that means one less thing off your plate in Colleen's then I'll do it. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, that'd be great. I appreciate and I I think that the board should have an open communication there anyway. Is it helpful to have action items broken out on the agenda separately so you can so we can go back and reference them or I keep saying agenda on the minutes. All right, so I will put them in. So um director will send over the we'll forward the MOA between the library library um Halo will ask the budget

about um and I have it here insights It's on electric and heat and oil. Um, water. And water. Yeah. Or heat, electric, and water. Trends us. All right. Good. Got those both noted down. Mhm. Excellent. Okay. Um, and I'm sending the next You have the budget lines. We're doing

Oh, yes. Um, okay. No, I did not, but and director please will send along the budget information for management services and supply and supplies. You can address the next. Thank you. Thank you for all sitting there while I talk to myself. No problems too to repeat it. Yeah. Um, any else you want me to try to find out in terms of maintenance? I mean, I'm sending you the MOA, so that's probably a good place to start. Yeah.

Great. What would you like to tackle next? Okay. Purchasing policy or organizing trustee donations? Um, let's go quick through the purchasing policy. I mean we can't we can't make any decisions and I know that this is an ongoing conversation but at least um to get more thoughts on this. Yes. So um did you agree we should start with this version? Yeah. Yeah. I use that as a build. Okay. Mhm. Um so the way it's currently the the item that I think needs a definite decision is the amount. So this figure, the amount you want to set for

basically guidance on us bringing things to the board for approval. Um, however, with that in mind, the exceptions would overrule that. Mhm. Mhm. Um so right now that includes utilities, reimbursements, office equipment maintenance and repairs, um the contracts that are already approved at the board, and professional services. Professional services is tough because it's I think it's so vague. Yeah. Um so we could either make that more specific. We could take it out altogether. Um I think it's intended for like the custodial service, but that's already covered under the contract agreement. Yeah.

Um yeah, I looking at it initially, I couldn't tell you what it is. And so if it's just not helpful right now, we could take it out. Mhm. Um I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would fall under that that wouldn't fall under anything else. Yeah. Mhm. So I'm okay removing it. Okay. I mean, we don't want to be constantly eding editing this, but it is a living document. So, reminding ourselves that what would be better? Do you want me to put a strike through so that the rest of the board can see what we did? Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.

And then, will you help me because it might be that I'm really stupid. You are not really stupid and I want you to talk nicely about yourself, please. It says generally under net30 terms. What the heck does that mean? Oh, net30 is um common for companies that invoice. So um you have 30 days to pay. Okay. Yes. I should have Googled it, but I was like it's not what is that? You don't have you don't have the expertise and that's okay. So we whenever whenever possible we try to invoice rather than pay by like credit card. Yes. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's just that makes a lot of sense. I should have just Googled it real time, but I was like, "No, it's a good question." That means remind me which which version this is based off of.

This is the um Brook Library one. So, I do like this is um off of the towns, but we kept in there that whenever possible, we'll direct business to vendors located in London. Do like that. Um we do try to do that when possible. um general gist of what we base our decisions on. Cost, quality, service, availability. Um we'll always try to ensure the best value. Should it say Leech Library endeavors to ensure Leech Library? Is that like a passive will endeavor endeavors? I'm fine with that. I don't know. Just

just sounds not important at all, but strike out will right ends. Yeah. Yeah, that's correct. Okay. It It's just It's showing that because Will is right there. Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah. So, any changes to that first paragraph or additions? No. I mean, I love the idea of putting in something about like green prioritizing like environmental or like eco-friendly. Yeah.

Um but I whether or not that's a priority for the whole group and if that's even feasible to include right now. I I I leave that out there as a as a preference, but not something that I'm willing to I don't feel like I need to stick, you know, that's not a hill I need to die on. There we go. I have no idioms left. I don't think it's necessarily a a bad thing. I think the rest of the paragraph does cover when it's not possible, right? Yeah, that's true. Um, so I'm not opposed to it. We could add something like whenever possible the library will direct its business to vendors and monetary and consider Yeah. environmental impact as part of its dis.

Yeah. Yeah.

The environmental impact. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. of purchasing purchasing decision. Yeah.

The pressure to using spell. Would you like me to type? This is not my usual keyboard. I have one good skill set. Actually, I have two, but one that's relevant. Hard on yourself. But now it's like reverse Uno. Triple Uno. Now a game we're playing. Okay. So any other things you want to highlight here? Um I know we had talked about the amount is so tricky because you can justify it in four different directions. It's just like

but what makes the most sense to make sure the building is operational, services are not interrupted like Yeah. Yeah. in your ex. Sorry. No, I just I'm just trying to like be devil's advocate because I know there will be people who are like that's a lot of money and it's like at the same time that's why we hire really great directors because they are paid to make the really big decisions when an emergency arises. So when you Yeah. In your experience, has $2,500 been like a a a tricky number to work within? Do we ever is there have there been times where you look at that and say wow that's a that's a really big limiter on the things we should be able to do

reflexively or is that something a limit that we almost never approach like so 2500 is not what we've been working with we've been working with a thousand okay and then they tried to cut it back to 500 and then they tried to cut it back um a thousand just I mean it forces us to with supplies in particular we're just specifically placing orders within the thousand Okay. Um, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It just that's what it forces us to do. Um, in terms of buying things like a single item that costs more than $1,000 that we would normally bring to the board anyway. Okay. Um,

so I think a,000 is okay. I think you could 2500 does seem kind of high. Um, I think the 2500 I based off of the town. Okay. Um, but for the library budget, I mean, we don't have as big of a budget as the town, so it makes sense for ours to be less. I I would suggest maybe 1,500 to get us a little over where we've been, but I think it's a reasonable Yeah, that that Okay, that sounds good. Okay. Yeah, I think so, too. Um there is still a I think there's still a section that addresses emergencies though too. So

yeah and emergencies need to be treated differently, right? Yeah. Um okay. So this section purchasing me will be determined by direct buy. So that would so I'm going to change this to 1500. So that would not need board approval. Um, so this written quotations is from the town's language, I believe. Um, so in the range of 2500 to 10,000, they require three written quotes. Mhm.

I don't know if because we're setting 1500, if you want to drop this to 1500, um, or if in that like 1500 to 2500 range, you would prefer bringing one quote to the board. Um, yeah, it's up to you. I guess being consistent so that someone who looks at it says, "Well, why 2500 versus 1500?" Yeah. So, we would have to kind of clarify that point somewhere. And I think that 1500 is a good number. Then putting that there would change 1500.

Yeah. Does it does it create again I guess does it create an undue burden on you to get three quotes instead of one for a $1,500 purchase? I guess it depends what it is. What's what's not really stated here is that so say for example we have a company that we contract our preventative maintenance with like for example and something goes wrong with the boiler and that repair is what I'm bringing you costwise. Um I see what you're saying. Do I need to get two more vendors that we don't contract with or not?

No. I I feel like that would be would that would that get would that would that get addressed under exceptions though where it's like if if it's a if it's some like we would have payments or purchases under an approved lease or contract agreement like I mean the repair isn't really under the I guess it depends on how mercy the you know it also sort of messes up the the documentation of repairs and all that because then you might have multiple people touching. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then it might avoid service agreements and

so could we maybe add repairs? Yeah, I was going to say I was going to say it seems to be like this is something that should be addressed under exemptions and not under a separate purchase section, payments, purchases or repairs. Mhm. Mhm. Related to Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. related to an approved lease. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. I think that Yeah. because when it helps it helps but if we're just doing it to follow process and it opens three more cans of worms that we weren't anticipating so that will now be 1 1500 to 10,000

all right I like that and I I also like that that gives us the opportunity where if you say wow you know it seems like this repair is really expensive you can you still have the option to bring it to the board and say board is this something we could explore and it allows us to like have a collaborative oversight over that to say maybe maybe it's time to look for another vendor You know, but it also allows you to say, you know what, this vendor has been great. We all love this vendor. Why, you know, it's we know this repair needs to be done. Let's just do it. Like I I feel good about that. Yeah. Okay. I like that. Thank you. That's great. Um sealed bid. This follows the town. Um well, doesn't really follow it. Gives the board the ability to follow the town. So, any major purchase over 10,000 um we'll go through the process of sealed bidding.

For items requiring this, the library Oh, it says will follow. Um, we could change it to may follow, but that's the board's decision. Just switch that. Do may I don't know. Or do you want to definitely follow the towns? Have we given everything that's happened? I don't know. Have we always been following the town procedure? Honestly, 10,000 doesn't come across our Yeah. Yeah. That's often. Um, I mean, Gilks was probably the last one that was over 10,000.

Um, that I can think of and that went through I mean, that was clear through the whole budget process. So, I mean, you can put the board will probably just say, "Hey, since it's about, you know, I don't know, sink holes collapsing. We don't have a lot of authority on sink holes. Like, let's just do this seal bid thing that the town like I don't Okay, that Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I can't see a time when the board wouldn't want to just follow the town, but

um I guess it gives flexibility if needed in a situation we can't foresee. sinkholes in the library. I mean, it's not a year that you've had. You know what? Okay. Yeah, I I I agree with you. Yeah. Um and then this David about net30 terms and that we may participate in basically cooperative purchasing um whether that's with other departments or other libraries. Okay. Which we do. Um, exemptions we've pretty much gone over unless you want to do anything else with those.

Did you want to clarify that it is an exemption, but the exemption is uh the $1,500? Uh, or just that it's not Well, oh, you mean the following items be exempt from the 1500? We could say from the first two items or from the from direct buy and written quotations, but that sealed bid is not subject to exemptions. Okay. Do we do we want to do that? That makes sense to me. Okay. Yeah. Just so that it flows because I I made a note of it the last conversation.

Is anyone written quotations? quotation requirements contained in this policy. Yeah. Mhm.

Um but you wanted to add the sealed bid part. Oh, that the seal that the sealed we could say the sealed bid is not exempt or does not do we want do we do we need to state that state that is because I think what we've got right there is fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Because you're saying specifically those two. Y I think that Yeah, that works great. Okay. Um and then there's the last statement. that nothing in the policy shall prevent the library from complying with terms, conditions of any grant, request or cooperative agreement, which I think is valuable to have in there. Yeah.

Um, so this is the emergency section. Um, in case of an emergency, board of trustees authorizes the library director to approve an emergency purchase. The board shall be notified of the emergency and associated purchase as soon as possible. At the next regular board meeting, the emergency will be discussed to decide whether any policy change may be indicated. Any changes there? And then um ethics section. Um we love our ethics. We love to be very clear about our ethics now. So the towns is much long. Actually, let me go back to the towns. Yeah, theirs was very detailed.

Yeah. So, I didn't know if you did want any of the details from the town version, but there was this um that's we don't have in there is the property disposition. Um, but yeah, the ethics involved a lot more sections and yeah, I I feel like our purview is so much more narrow than the business of a town. Yeah. Like, yeah, I don't know. Um, back to what? I mean, the town is literally going from like cemeteries to Mhm. Yeah. I don't know.

To fire departments, police, covering everything. Yeah. I mean, I do think that first statement is simple. It's addressing the conflict of interest without detailing all of it. Um I do like that this is in here the um unethical unethical for any person to um give offer etc. any employee um to solicit or accept from any business personal gift or gratuitity. Um, I mean the staff gets gifts usually in the form of food, I would say. Socks, but

I mean Cat and I exchanged Christmas presents, but like I don't feel like that qualifies under this. Um, the socks had books on them. Yeah. Do we need to add any language or modify this language to reflect that it's it's less about the personal relationship that individuals build with employees and you know and all that and it's that it's about that the concern is is related to influence. I mean that's clearly about leverage. Yeah. I do think it's specific about a business rather than an a patron that wants to show their appreciation. Right. Um I think there's a big difference there.

Yeah. And legally they can't accept a gift over like $75 anyway because they're public employees, right? It used to be 25 and now it's 75. Mhm. As far as I can recall. I am. That does sound right. Yes. Okay. So, it's already covered. All right. We are at 7:51. Just as a heads up. Anything else you did want to pull out of the version? Sorry, I just got camera. I was going back to the property. Um, you want to look at this part? Yeah. Just real quick on the public the conflict of interest thing. Oh, yeah.

Just real just to refresh my memory on that cuz I started looking at the budget stuff and I completely forgot that this existed. Um, I think just if we could copy and include the the discovery of an actual or potential conflict of interest, I think just making sure that that gets included is a good idea because yeah, I I could say library director and andor board of trustees or or that the library director can then notify the board of trustees just to make sure that like just just to keep that like accountability available. Okay. Yeah. Just as like another paragraph. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it needs to we don't need to go into any further detail, but

do you want it specifically say that the director will in turn notify the Yeah, thank you. We could say the board of trustees as appropriate because I'm sure I am sure there there could be a situation that does not require the board of trustees involvement or you know manhandling that can just very quickly and easily be handled between staff and the director and you know I don't I don't see a concern with that. Does that track everything?

I don't know if there are I don't know if we want to make that clarification. I mean, if it's not a big deal, I still think the trustees should just be notified because I mean, Blendary is 25,000 people, but feel like a small town sometimes. And so, it just Yeah. What about if it says board of trustees when appropriate instead of as appropriate? What I I guess to to be clear, what I'm trying to make sure we don't do is create a situation where any such notification has to turn into an immediately like contact the board, let them know blah blah blah. Maybe contact the chair. Is that kosher? I mean, does it have to be

I mean some things you can just be like, "Oh, that's a conflict of interest pivot." You just go in a different direction with it. Like, oh, I didn't realize that was your husband's business or something. Mhm. It does. I mean, yeah. Yeah. That it's not, you know, a criminal enterprise. It's just cases. It's just like I didn't realize. Mhm. But I don't know. Would you also say notify the board of trustees in a timely manner? I think yeah that just just so then that way the I'm just thinking public perception and that's true

that they might nitpick at that if they find out for someone else well then why wasn't this made public and if it's harmless it's it's harmless but especially when we're talking about ethics. Yeah. Yep. That's that is a fair point. But we'll we'll bring it up to the rest of the board and and see if they say, you know what, let's just say at the discretion of the director, then you know, as we're talking about hills that we don't want to die on. That's not what we're going to die on. So, yeah, I think I think that's good. Okay. All right. Do we mind if I run to the bathroom real quick? I just I've been drinking water this whole time.

That's totally fine. Do we already have a policy governor about property disposal? So, we do for the collection. That's in the collection. So, like if there's something of value, you've got a policy in place for that.

Actually, cuz I feel like I've seen it. Um, it should be cuz this paragraph from the longer document isn't really necessary as long as we've got it somewhere. Yeah. deselection. Okay. Um, but this this wouldn't cover like furniture. Yeah. I like that you say deselection. Yes, that's a Let's see.

What did I miss for notes? I was just asking if there was a document that I identified what the procedure would be to get rid of items. Okay. Deselect. Yeah. And we have one specifically related to the collection. Okay. Um but it wouldn't cover like furniture for example or a piece of technology. Mhm. And at the same time, we don't want to create a policy that makes it so that we cannot get rid of a broken table because we've created some procedure where we have to like find the highest bidder and and that that does exist in some towns where it's just Yeah, this is where stuff

furniture, office equipment, other items purchased by the library. It must retain significant value. The method will be determined by the director. Oh, notice shall be given to the board. Mhm. And then specifically uh collection materials is governed by the collection development policy. I actually like that that coming in from the the taking it from the town like that. I think I think that does a nice job of covering like the the need for the library to be able to make these choices, but also the to keep the the board of trustees in the loop about it and then the public knows. Yep. The director has the ability to do that.

Mhm. Do we want to move that? Yeah. No. No. I don't know if we want to get too into the weeds with that. I could see situations because it's happened where a member of the public sees the library getting rid of something. Yeah. And questions how could they have done that? And um um without, you know, approval. Yeah. And this would specifically say that they'd be able they're able to with the board's approval.

Yeah. I think it also helps uh address some of the micromanaging concerns if the board needs to be notified about all of this practical stuff whereas or the board needs to be involved in deciding about all this practical stuff and it prevents situations where we've got things that that the director is best versed in managing getting held up by the board. I mean, I will say that the like the language about the sealed bid and auction that that is pulled from the town and I can't really foresee a lot that we would have where we would go through that process, right? Um like we don't have vehicles that we would

sure auction. So um or traded. So it could be instead the method of disposable disposal will be determined by the library director period. Um, a notice of such disposal will shall be given to the library board of trustees. Could be just as simple as that. Yeah. And advertised as appropriate. Yeah, that works for me. Okay. What do you think, Astra? You still have hesitations? I do. I just don't if if we haven't had to say that or haven't. Well, that's what that's what we're saying is we have Yeah. We've had people that wanted to know why a certain chair was gone. Yeah.

Yeah. And the the town is actually implementing a process for the departments to document things that are disposed and how you dispose of them. Um that we don't have to do the same thing because we're, you know, separate. But I do know that that's something the town's doing because it's been a problem. Yeah, I think having I think having this in there for now would be a good idea. Um modifying that that portion of it to be more reflective of the kinds of things that we're actually going to be disposing of. Um and then as the town modifies theirs, we could take a look and at their modified version and see if that would be a more appropriate one to adopt into our policy.

Okay. So like a section four. Yeah. And I think again it goes it goes well for um the whole transparency with the public thing too. It allows it allows the public to see like this is we it also allows us to defend the fact that we need a furniture line. Yes. Because we aren't throwing out chairs. In fact, we've had the same chairs since 1963. Yeah. And there's been in some cases there among the staff there's like this fear of getting rid of things that are literally broken. Yes. And they hang out in like the hallway for eons. Um or in a staff space where

they're taking it from from something else. Um so having this I think would like empower staff to be able to or the director in particular to be able to be like that needs to go. Yes. Um, I don't I feel like the advertised part could probably be taken out where we've taken out the I mean everything about what we do is public. It's literally advertised and an email to the trustees would be public. Yeah. Yeah.

Any other changes you'd like to make? I feel like honestly this whole sentence could go that was from the town. I just this whole section I I don't know why but I feel like maybe thinking more on it. Um I think if there's an overall agreement to adding this in then I'll concede. I just that there's something just doesn't sit with me and I can't quite figure it out. M

think about it and we could highlight it and just say molding this over or whatever as like a sidebar, but I from my experience either being on the board or sitting through the meetings as an audience person, this has come up and the line item for furniture has come up and the budget committee has consistently made us slash it. Mhm. And we have not replaced furniture and Like said, people are afraid to throw it out. Mhm. Um I don't know. We have so few things other than collection materials

like things don't get thrown out and so if something needs to go that way, if it's documented, it just justifies the need for replacement if if it needs to be replaced.

What if Azer what if it were? What if is it Just if if we were to phrase the whole thing very differently and say something like um when the library director determines that item that furniture, office equipment and other items need to be removed from service um then the meth the method of disposable will be determined by the library director and notice of such disposal shall be given to the library board of trustees. Like what if it's phrasing that that is making it difficult for you where it it's still endowing the library director with the power but it's less about like hey town sometimes things need to get tossed and more about like the director knows this and the director's going to handle it.

I guess for me I know this sounds silly but it being a purchasing policy and we're talking about disposal. It may it may result in the need for purchase at some point. Okay. Yeah. And so if we're going to dispose of something, are we being mindful of the fact that it may need to be replaced just and it was purchased at some point? I mean, and it's also congruent with the part where the the um the collection materials their deselection and disposal is covered by the purchasing policy of the library. So yeah. All right. Well, I if you can remember that wording, I like sure of yours. I don't get too hung up on the section cuz we've got one more thing to to briefly talk about, but say it again.

Yes, please. All right. Sorry. All right. Ready? Ready.

Buckle up. Um, the library detect the library director, not detective. library director um may determine that uh furniture, office equipment and other items purchased by the library um need to be disposed of. Um the method of disposal or will be determined by the library director. We can say the necessity and method of disposal and we have to fix the purposes.

Yeah, sorry. um notice of such disposal and then we could we could um copy that in and then the this disposal pertains exclusively to materials that are not part of the library collection. I think that clarification matters and I like the the page of it on there. Mhm. Mhm. Um I think you could use in light of obsolescence you'd say um other items. Yeah. Just to get rid of preposition

hang there just yelling at me in seventh grade. What about can we can we say due to obsolescence instead of in light of? Yeah. Thank you. Might even suggest that might more concise language. Yeah. How does that this whole thing go? Yeah. How does that feel, Azra? I think that feels smoother. Okay. Cuz I think that was a workout. It was cuz it was getting chunky and I was losing I was losing. What's the process? This is just smoother and shorter. Yeah. Okay. I Yeah. Thank you for

Can we make paper weights one word there, please? Cuz those blue lines are bothering me and I know why they're there. Thank you. We're all getting twitchy at the end of the night. Correct. All right. Okay. Okay. Moving on. Or are we bringing this to the board for a particular meeting yet? We're going to keep the next one short. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. because we're doing your review, right, Donna? Yeah. Okay. So, maybe the first for June.

Yeah. And we can I mean, if you want to follow what's been happening, this goes under discussion and then the next meeting discussion then to vote. Okay. And I can take out the version two now. Thank you. And so then would that go does this go under action items or does it go under purchasing policy? The note that we are planning to bring this to the board on I think action items like it should go on the agenda for June 4th. Is it June 4th? Okay.

All right. Okay. So we can any initial findings that you have about the organizing trustee donations and then we can have that as more of a deeper conversation for the next meeting if okay since the since the purchasing policy is it's surprising that took longer than I thought the budget I thought policy would I'm starting to feel about the budget okay this is I mean the financial thing is also important But my brain was like budget numbers. All right. So without further ado Mhm.

Uh for the uh organizing trustee donations. Yes. So um I did pose this question to the Gmails board. I've received three responses so far. Um one was from Manchester. Manchester is tough to like compare us to because they're a city. They operate under a different type of government. Um, but they did send me their list of um, trust funds, which they have a very long list of trust funds compared to us. Um, so I I wouldn't say that that was like

really what we're looking for at the moment. Um, and then I also received two other spreadsheets, one from Dair and one from Rogers and Hudson. Um, both honestly, and I can show you what they look like. So Derry's and Hudson's look very similar. Um, and they're honestly a more simpler version than what Aaron created. Mhm. Um, but I don't think they really help us tackle the like how and when this is spent. It's really just covering

um the money that was accepted by the board. um doesn't follow through on the spending of it. Okay. Um and then Hudson's also pretty similar. Hudson did send me also their like simple pretty much the same thing that Dair does. Um Hudson sent me like their simple budget um spreadsheet which does list um how it it says a total of how much was spent from that item. So like there was a grant listed for example, it said the full amount was spent and it said 100% was the status.

Oh. but it didn't go into like the invoices under that and um which I imagine would we would want that detail. Um so it was like a step in the right direction but it still wasn't the full thing we need. So this this might be a really um unintelligent question and I apologize for that but like actually could you bring up the one you just had please? Uh, Hudson or Dair? Dairy.

Uh, Hudson. Yeah, that one. Um, because I like how simple that is. I I like what it lays out, but you're right. It doesn't show when it was spent or how much or for what purpose. Could would it be appropriate to just add those three columns along there along there. So, we could say, you know, the friends donated on this date. The museum passes $1,000. The board of trustees accepted it on this date. On this date, it was used. like I think going back to this is what Aaron created

and it's more of that at the time we thought we were doing right by moving things to the book account. We know that's not true. So this would change to like the amount spent. Um, the challenge is like I really wanted I was really hoping to have someone's template to just like not reinvent the wheel, but I think there there needs to be potential for many invoices like it's not necessarily going to be one, right? Especially if we're talking a grant. Um, so I think that's where the okay challenge is and I did hide the donor information too from the meeting. Um,

thank you. Yeah. So, it's good to know that what we have, what Aaron had started is pretty much what other libraries have. We were on the right track. It's just the managing the more the details that come after the accepting. You put out a question to the NHLTA and I haven't got a response yet. Um, could we potentially ask the Charitable Trust Foundation, do they have like temp from Could you give us like a hard copy like sample? Yeah. What would a great one look like? Yeah. Do you want me to ask that question, Donna? That'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I think that would be Do you have Amy? You have Amy's contact information?

I believe so. Yes. I will I'll confirm to make sure it's the correct one. But um Yeah. And they might have more maybe what we're more so looking for is like an example from a nonprofit. Yeah. Yeah. And and one that they would be okay with. So if they Well, they could redact it as needed. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it hurts. Really, we're looking for like the bones of it, not the data, right? We don't care about how much money was contributing. We just want to know how the columns and the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I can definitely do that as an action item. Piece of software that we're missing like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, I would I almost want to avoid software as much as we can.

Keep it really simple. um to keep it simple because we already are working within Quicken and that we can't do this with Quicken. Yeah. Mhm. So it's Yeah. Okay. Excel based. Excel would be great. Yeah. Um but obviously we're open to Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Free or as close to free other options as we get. Yeah. And then uh yeah. Okay, that's a good one. Love it. All right, so we've got that going. Action item is listed.

And then in terms of uh next meeting room availability, is that something we want to see or do you have suggestions? Um what date are we looking at? Are we wanting to do I think the next one you were looking at was the 27th. Do you want to do another one that soon? When you're talking about twice a month, I think with the budget. Yeah. Yeah. I I was going to say I think in general we don't need to, but until but but until the budget is ready to go, we probably should. So, and just like you said, if next year we find out that we don't need as many meetings. I mean, obviously it will hopefully have less things to talk about, but I think it's good to have just a little bit of that extra buffer space because Yeah.

Especially for those items that are not as quick and easy as maintenance. Yeah. Yeah. There's we're going to get to those lines that are complicated. This programming is fun. Yes. I'm looking forward to that. So, that's an action item, Donna, that you're going to inquire about room availability for May 27th. Okay. And 7 o'clock still best time, I think. So good time to eat dinner and things. So yeah. Yeah, it's easier for me at 7, but whatever works better for the group. I appreciate everyone trying to accommodate Wednesdays. Yeah. All right. I think that's everything and I'll be able to send these minutes out like immediately.

All right. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you guys. Seriously. And if Colleen has any questions um or wants to be involved in the next meeting if there's um yeah just to let us know. Okay. All right. Do you want to move to ajourn? Well to do public comment. Oh yeah public comment. I have raised comments from earlier so I just typed them in there. Okay. Great. So with no public comments, we will adjourn at 8:17.