February 16, 2023

Haverhill Public Library

Board of Trustees

Minutes of February 16, 2023

The regular monthly meeting of the Trustees of the Haverhill Public Library was called to order at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 16, 2023 in the Donald C. Freeman Whittier Room. In attendance were Trustees Bresnahan, Coletti, Klueber, Rurak, Sheehan and Veasey-Sirois.  Also in attendance was Director, Sarah Moser and Assistant Director, Jane Lemuth.

Secretary’s Report

            The trustees were given copies of the minutes dated January 19, 2023.  After perusing the minutes, a motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes.  The minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report

Business manager, Josh, presented the financial statements for January. Highlights included:

• The endowment has almost fully recovered.
• Reader’s Fund gifts have been coming in and we have already raised about the same amount as last year but only about half of expected gifts have been received.
• The reference copy machine lease was up so now we own it. Library card related income is up due to copy fees and not having to make lease payments.
• Building repairs and maintenance spending has slowed the past few months so now we are within budget.
• Programming money has been being spent more wisely and spread out throughout the year more.
• The final OverUnder invoice was paid for the feasibility study.
• Josh has been working with Jenn on completing the audit for 2021 and 2022. There were some discrepancies in accounting figures and some miscommunication which has slowed down the audit.

Director’s Report

Sarah discussed the highlights of the director’s report:

• The solar picnic table was delivered.
• Luis and Paul are still waiting on the HVAC company. They have been extremely short staffed in recent months.
• The library hosted the Rotary Club meeting on January 26. Sarah gave a talk about the building project and the 150^th anniversary. Becky gave a talk about special collections and a tour of the room.
• The staff that participated in the CPR class have completed it.
• The library now offers free admission to the Museum of Printing.
• The website is being migrated to a new platform.

Old Business

Staff updates:

• Two new staff were hired for circulation. One has an MLS which will be beneficial.
• The page employee was promoted to a full time position in circ.

The Mayor asked for a draft budget for FY24. Sarah is asking for more money for security and utilities, manager salary increases and a part time custodian.

New Business

Sarah attended an MBLC webinar on receiving funding for renovations. So far, 54 libraries have applied but only about 10 will receive money and usually is it only about 35% that gets reimbursed.

            There was a discussion about ways to receive funding from the state and how to get politicians interested and involved. The trustees agreed that a short report should be prepared about the renovation project.

            Sarah will prepare an annual report for the Senter project for the Geoffrion family.

            Sarah wants to look into selling merchandise for the 150^th anniversary.

            Trustee Rurak discussed the immediate need to make the parking lot ADA compliant.

There being no further business to discuss, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn. The meeting ended at 11:30 a.m.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Bresnahan