Haverhill Public Library
Board of Trustees
Minutes of September 19, 2019
The regular monthly meeting of the Trustees of the Haverhill Public Library was called to order at 8:40 a.m. on Thursday, September 19, 2019 in the Donald C. Freeman Whittier Room. In attendance were Trustees Klueber, Rurak, and Veasey-Sirois. Absent were Trustees Bresnahan, Coletti and Sheehan. Also in attendance were Director Sarah Moser and Assistant Director Ricky Sirois.
Secretary’s Report
The trustees were given copies of the minutes dated July 18, 2019. The Trustees perused the minutes but were not able to vote to accept or decline as there was not a quorum in attendance. There was a discussion about Trustee attendance and the importance of being present in order to vote on agenda items.
Treasurer’s Report
The Trustees examined the July and August financial statements provided by the Business Manager, Josh. He has been working on making the financial reports more user friendly and easier to understand and compare to last year. The reports could not be voted on as there was not a quorum in attendance.
Director’s Report
A copy of the Director’s Report was given to the Trustees. Sarah stated that the library had a busy summer and that Rachel Gagnon did a great job with the teen summer reading program. She also stated that the ARIS report has been completed and also the Fall Fundraiser planning is underway. The library will open on Sundays beginning October 20.
Old Business
There has been discussion regarding opening on Wednesday nights, which will allow the library to be open 64 hours a week. There has been negotiations between the city and the union in order to hire new staff for the increase in hours. Three 12 hour positions have been created and interviews will be starting soon.
We are in the final stages of hiring a Head of Reference.
New Business
The Trustees will need to vote next month on the holiday schedule for 2020, FY20 meeting dates and trustee slate.
There are a couple of large building projects that will need to be done soon including fixing a leaking and rusty water pipe in front of the circulation desk. We are waiting to get quotes for the job. Another major repair that will need to be made is fixing the drainage issue in front of the garage. Sarah received a quote for $12,000 from a structural engineering firm.
MBLC would like us to adopt automatic renewal software for patron books. Sarah discussed some reservations she has with it, including the loss of adult material fines and it would increase the circulation checkout statistics when the patron might not intend to check out again. Opting out might be confusing to patrons who borrow from other libraries but their Haverhill materials wouldn’t auto renew.
There was discussion on whether or not to change the wording on the cell phone policy signs as it seems confusing because it says the library is a cell phone free building. People can still text and use it with headphones. Most people realize this and follow the rules so there is no reason to change the signs.
There was some discussion on what to spend the city money on that was received to help close the waiver gap. Sarah suggested hiring a full time archivist and giving department heads raises.
There being no further business to discuss, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn. The meeting ended at 10:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen Bresnahan, Secretary