Library Board Meeting Minutes for January 2008

Minutes
Gates Public Library
Board of Trustees
January 16, 2008

Present: Bob Renehan, President; Neelima Gokhale, Vice President; Peter Derry; Amy Gardner; Kirk Kettinger; Paula LaManna; Ralph Esposito, Supervisor; Karen Kase-McLaren, Director

Absent: Linda Tribotte

I Meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Renehan.

II Agenda Changes: None requested.

III Visitors’ Comments: None

IV Supervisor’s Comments: Mr. Esposito welcomed new Library Trustee, Kirk Kettinger. He also stated that the audit for the town will be done the end of March, 2008.

V Correspondence: None

VI Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve the December 12, 2007 minutes was made by Paula LaManna, seconded by Neelima Gokhale and motion carried unanimously.

VII Approval of Personnel Report: A motion to approve the personnel report was made by Neelima Gokhale, seconded by Peter Derry and motion carried unanimously.

VIII      Financial Review:

           a. Approval of Financial/Year to Date/Budget Projection Reports: A motion to approve the submitted reports was made by Neelima Gokhale, seconded by Paula LaManna and motion carried unanimously. Ms. Kase-McLaren asked the Supervisor if the ending balance money in the 2007 budget could be put into a building project line item to use towards the renovation/expansion project. Mr. Esposito stated that the audit has to be completed first and if there is an ending balance in the library's budget, he will recommend that a line item be made for the building project.

            b. Approval of Transfers: Ms. Kase-McLaren stated that a final transfer is needed to purchase new computers. A motion to approve the transfer of $4950 from L-9060-8000 (Health Benefits) to L-7410-2003 (Equipment – Technology) was made by Amy Gardner, seconded by Neelima Gokhale and motion carried unanimously.

c. Approval of Bills to be Paid: Two sets of bills need to be approved, one for final 2007 bills and one for January, 2008 bills.

                        1. A motion to approve claims #271-290, accounts payable claims #20939-20942, including payroll #26, for a total of $58,758.41 was made by Paula LaManna, seconded by Peter Derry and motion carried unanimously.

                        2. A motion to approve claims#1-7, accounts payable claims #20959-60, #20963-20965, including payroll #1, for a total of $40,737.27, was made by Neelima Gokhale, seconded by Amy Gardner and motion carried unanimously.

IX        Items Requiring Board Action:

            a. Items to be declared salvage: A motion to approve the items listed was made by Paula LaManna, seconded by Peter Derry and motion carried unanimously.

X          Reports: All reports accepted as written including
a. Special Reports:
1. Circulation Graph,
2. Reference Questions Graph,
3. Patron Level Reference Graph and
4. 2007 Statistics Chart.

XI        Items for Board Discussion:

            a. Replacement toy chest: Ms. Kase-McLaren handed out to the Board a catalog copy of a toy chest to replace the one that was purchased in 2007 in memory of Paul Harvey, Friends volunteer. Board members agreed to purchase the toy chest that Ms. Kase-McLaren has recommended.

            b. Board Committees: Those committees commented on –

                        1. Town Board – Transfer requests were approved.
                        2. Friends – Book sale agreement needs to be updated; continuous book sale cart is in full use; storage room in Town Hall for donated books will be available once there is a new library building.

                        4. Long Range Plan – Mr. Derry presented a timeline for development of the new long range plan. Mr. Derry volunteered to be chairperson of committee to develop long range plan. President Renehan will head the Board group. Several other focus group will be developed.

                        8. Technology – New computers have been ordered and many training classes scheduled. MCLS catalog has a new design available for the public to choose from when they go to the MCLS homepage. The original catalog is text based and called 'classic catalog' and the new catalog for people to try is a picture based catalog called 'visual catalog'. Some libraries in the county will default the webpage to the visual catalog. Gates will allow patrons to choose which one they prefer. For now this is in the trial stage so that MCLS can get a feel to what the public would prefer for the homepage.

                        9. Building Planning – Committee met in December and Habiterra will be presenting new drawings, along with a new budget, in January.

Having no further business to discuss, a motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Peter Derry, seconded by Kirk Kettinger and motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sandra Kilbury
Recording Secretary