Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

Library Board of Trustees
Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees
Monday, December 11, 2023

PRESENT:
Kathleen Capelli, Heather Crocker, Terence Diggory, Nancy Luther, Issac (Ike) Pulver, Jean Fei, Frank Brady, Jennifer Ferriss, Don Flinton, Trevor Oakley, Eric Blackman, Jamie Chabot, Tonya Faiola, Ric Taras and Kelly McCombs

ABSENT:
Carol Daggs

Meeting Called to Order at 5:00 PM

Saratoga Springs Public Library Board of Trustees

Regular Meeting and Executive Session, 5PM December 11, 2023

Draft Meeting Minutes

1. Call to Order by Kathleen Capelli at 5:00 PM

1. Approval of November Meeting Minutes –

Terry motioned to approve November meeting minutes, Frank seconded, all in favor. November Meeting minutes approved.

III. Approval of Expenditures (See Exhibit I) – Action Required

1. Request to reallocate $1000 from 60015-1 · Books & Rental Books to 60020-1 Periodicals and Microforms

Heather motioned to approve the request of to reallocate, Jean seconded. All in favor. Request to reallocate approved.

1. November Prepaid Checks 71725-71730 totaling $6,341.44
2. December Warrants/Checks 71731-71796 totaling $132,218.43

Frank motioned to approve November Prepaid and December Warrants/Checks, Terry seconded. All in Favor. November Prepaid and December Warrants/Checks approved.

IV. Approval of Financial Reports – Action Required

1. November Pre-Paids and December Warrant Summary Sheet (Exhibit I)
2. Budget Report - (Exhibit II)
3. Income Report - (Exhibit III)
4. Gifts - $100 from Karen Kolanowski in memory of Doris Clute

Heather motioned to approve financial reports, Jean seconded. All in Favor, all financial reports are approved.

V. President’s Report -

Katie discussed how there is still no more information on the parking lot. She also discussed that the Board of Trustees continuing education requirement is due the end of this month. She discussed how programs are tracked and budgeted as well.

VI. Public Comment – N/A

VII. Correspondence and Communication

1. Thank you note from Carolyn Bishop – Note was passed around for all trustees to read.

VIII. Director’s Report

1. Director’s Written Report (Exhibit IV) –

Ike Discussed that his team is working on closing out follow-up work and questions from the audit, with the hope of having the audit completed in January, in time for budgeting season to begin for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Ike was pleased to learn on November 28th that our Solar Powered Bench submission was one of five projects from among the 15 submitted, to advance to the public voting round. Voting is currently underway, until Wednesday, December 12, and is open to any resident of the City of Saratoga Springs who is 18 or older.

1. Department Reports (Exhibit V) –

Don (IT) discussed how the last of the new self-checks are in place and as of Wednesday fully operational. He also discussed that additional updates continue to other items such as automating the entry of our Libcal events to Saratoga.com’s events page which will nearly double our program web presence.

Trevor (Access and Outreach Services) – Trevor discussed his team is working on entering over 1000 items in the “Story Time” collection into the catalog to make them searchable/findable. He also talked about a selection of holiday films that have migrated from the Children’s Room to the first-floor DVD collection. These titles seem to have more interest from grownups looking for the films for themselves, rather than kids!

Catherine (Youth Services) – Catherine discussed how outreach visits were a huge accomplishment this month for the entire department. Also, she discussed that the kids and teens have been expressing interest in additional gaming software and equipment at the library. Don installed Minecraft on one of the children’s computers so we can test out the viability of the program. If things go well, additional software licenses will be purchased for both the children’s and teen areas.

Jamie (Adult Services) – Jamie discussed how Caitlin and Brendan have worked to create a “Good News” report, where library staff can share positive experiences and comments from patrons. Also, the adult services department was featured twice in local publications in some capacity! First was a story in the Christmas edition of Saratoga Today. A reporter came to Caitlin’s Make it for Fake it program and interviewed her, plus used content from the program she created in partnership with the Saratoga Downtown Business Association, to show people how easy it is to dress up to attend the annual Victorian Street Walk.

Ric Taras (Operations) – Ric discussed that, with the arrival of extremely cold weather, we had our annual preventive maintenance performed on the Natural Gas boilers. H.T. Lyons performs a complete and very detailed maintenance process. Also, the new split unit fountain/ bottle fill station is helping with our sustainability efforts while filling an important need for patrons and staff. Over an 8 month period, we have saved over 1286 [16oz] bottles from the landfill.

IX. Special / Committee Reports – N/A

X. Unfinished Business

1. Proposed Security Camera Policy –Katie discussed that there is no update and Ike is still trying to consult with an attorney at this time.

XI. New Business – N/A

XII. Adjourned at 5:31PM to Executive Session to Discuss a Particular Personnel Matter

Respectfully submitted: Tonya Faiola, Senior Account Clerk

XIII: Executive Session

1. Present: Kathleen Capelli, Heather Crocker, Terence Diggory, Nancy Luther, Jean Fei, Frank Brady, Issac (Ike) Pulver, Kelly McCombs
2. Call to order 5:32PM
3. A particular personnel matter was discussed
4. Executive Session Adjourned 5:52PM

XIV. Reconvening: The Board came out of Executive Session and the Regular Meeting reconvened at 5:53PM

XV. Additional New Business

Katie moved to approve a salary adjustment for Daniel Salmon. Jean seconded. All in favor. Motion approved.

XVI. Adjournment of Regular Meeting at 6:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted: Terence Diggory, Board Secretary