Library Director Becky Fasulo, acting as facilitator due to the meeting being held in person and virtually, called the meeting to order at 7:04 PM.
Members present: Lloyd Murdoch, Jane Pingelski, Felicia Hopkins, Franklin Bennek, Cathy Lozier, Catherine Bailey, and Librarian Rebecca Fasulo. Also in attendance is Sara Dallas from SALS.
Minutes of the previous meeting: Minutes from the July 6th meeting were read. A motion was made by Franklin Bennek and seconded by Cathy Lozier to accept the minutes. The motion was carried with all in favor.
Sara Dallas from SALS Virtual Report: SALS budget was cut by 20%. State aid to individual libraries was also cut by 20%. Sara suggested being lean and mean in planning budgets for the coming year. Minimum Standards go into effect Jan. 1, 2021. Libraries have until Dec. 31, 2021 to be compliant.
Treasurer’s Report: The treasurer’s report was read and discussed. Treasurer Cathy Lozier reported that a check for $10K was received from the Harriet Hawley Miller Trust which was deposited into the checking account to pay expenses rather than withdrawing from an existing CD. As interest rates are currently so low for CDs it would not be very beneficial to put the money into a CD anyway. Upon review, the budget is in good shape at this time. A motion was made Lloyd Murdoch and seconded by Jane Pingelski to approve all paid bills. A motion was made by Lloyd Murdoch and seconded by Catherine Bailey to accept the treasurer’s report. The motion was carried with all in favor.
Librarian’s Report: The Librarian’s report was presented with highlights as follows:
- Phase 3A of pandemic safety plan for reopening is going well
- Farm2Library program proved popular and beneficial
See attachment for complete librarian’s report
A motion was made by Catherine Bailey and seconded by Felicia Hopkins to accept the librarian’s report. The motion was carried with all in favor.
Old Business:
- Census – It looks like the Census may run through the end of October as originally planned, however this is not certain. Please continue to encourage people to fill this out if they have not yet done so.
- Farm2Library – We were finally able to make the connections needed to join this program. The first week we had shelf stable produce only. The fridge arrived pretty quickly so we have been getting cooler items now as well. Response has been terrific – lots of good feedback on Facebook and many people picking up items. For the 1st week in August we had 14 people take food. In September we have had 117 people take food. I have been picking up the produce on Wednesdays in Hudson Falls and getting it set in the library. Jane has volunteered to pick up the produce as needed and she will be doing that this week as I have a meeting at that time. I will be in the library for the meeting and so will be able to let her inside. The program will go no later than mid-November from what I understand. Next year I will see about changing the pickup day to one that we are normally open in order to make it easier for volunteers to get into the building and also so that I don’t tie up all my Wednesdays.
- Harriet Hawley Miller Trust – We received a partial payment of $10,000.
- Pandemic – We are currently in Phase 3A
- We are still using social media to get out information by posting daily book recommendations with occasional announcements and other news.
- We have also sent out press releases for announcements such as changes in services. These have been printed in the Post Star and Local First pretty quickly.
- It is not looking promising for being open in a normal manner for quite some time – possibly into the spring. I will be looking at our Phase 4 to see if anything can be adjusted in ways that we can extend access safely.
- I believe that all libraries in our service area are currently open in one form or another. This runs from curbside only with no public in their building to mostly back to normal in some of the smaller libraries. There is a lot of variation due to restrictions on staff, number of public allowed in buildings, size and layout of buildings, local restrictions in some areas, etc. I have not heard of any regional library that is allowing inside seating and lingering and from what I have heard most have no plans to move in that direction at this time.
- I have heard of a few libraries that are looking to set up a spot to allow indoor use of WIFI for students doing distance learning. I haven’t heard any specifics such as time limits, number of people allowed or ways to make the usage available to any who want it by having schedules or other methods. I will continue to follow this as it’s a good idea; I’m just not sure if it would be feasible in our building.
- We have not been allowing the public to use our bathrooms. A large part of the reason for this is the amount of time that staff would need to dedicate to cleaning. For the most part the people who have asked are not many and most of those have been people coming in for that reason only (day-trippers and others from outside the community.) We have been sending those folks to Subway. Since people are not spending a large amount of time in the building we haven’t had much of an issue with this. In cases of an emergency we would allow access. Some libraries are allowing bathroom use, perhaps in dedicated bathrooms if they have more than one so as to reserve a separate bathroom for staff. Some libraries have dedicated cleaning staff, especially the larger libraries. I have heard of a few of the smaller libraries who are thinking of locking their bathrooms and having people ask for the key (like old time gas stations) in order to allow access yet keep track of when cleaning was needed.
- Ramp and other outside repairs – Lloyd has taken care of the brickwork on the side of the entrance. The village is working on the spot between the ramp and the building: old cement has been taken away; crushed stone will be placed when they have the time. Tuff Kote will be resurfacing the ramp soon.
New Business:
1. Mobil Hot Spots – available through T-Mobil for $28.70 per month. These would be to loan out to people for limited times. While a great idea, especially these days, you need a good cell service connection to have them work consistently and cell service is spotty in our area. SALS does loan out a hot spot to libraries (not patrons).
2. Snow removal – Danny Mills will not be doing snow removal for us this year. Lloyd Murdoch will check with Baker Brothers and board members will ask around as well to find a replacement.
3. Incident Report – Becky filed an incident report involving a patron who was not complying with Covid guidelines at all times and was belligerent in his response at times. He also walked off with the library’s tape dispenser.
Adjournment: The motion was made by Cathy Lozier and seconded by Felicia Hopkins with all in favor to adjourn the meeting at 8:23 PM.
Next two meetings: Dec. 7, Jan. 4