##VIDEO ID:xJzYfbIs1UI## I want to call to order the November 18th 2024 meeting of the Kingston Public Library Board of Trustees it is 601 in attendance we have um trustee Jen Quackenbush pisty Carol brage um Matt donah Hill uh Lee Lewis and Ralph cado in addition we have Library director Donald cologne the first uh meet the first excuse me the first bullet on the agenda meeting with the Kingston 300th committee has been postponed likely to December so we are going to start with minutes approv I'll take a motion from 2024 meeting as presented as present great all in favor so then subcommittee update you brought all the good news to the subcommittee do you want to give the update sure sure I can do that um so we met last week um to discuss um you know ongoings with um some of the facilities projects here um I did meet with an architect um from Plymouth who did a walkth through um for the library um for the back room you know came up with a lot of creative ideas you know cost-saving ideas um and so the recommendation is for us to do a feasibil feasibility study um for the backroom space which will basically allow for um the professionals like the you know the electricians and um the actual contractors and so forth to come in and you know make an assessment of what would be required to meet the goals that we have for that space um so a draft um scope was um created by the architect um and it came in at a cost of $116,000 for the um feasibility study um because it has to follow the procurement process we would need two additional quotes So I am working to get two other um quotes from different Architects um for that kind of feasibility study um giving them the scope of work as well um so that everyone is on the same page with that um so some of the you know ideas that were touted was um it was highly recommended not to um introduce cement into that back room space to raise the floor but more so to do um what I know as acoustic um flooring um which would be a kind of rail system similar to like a drop sailing but the reverse it's a floor um because if there is any future plans for change in that space then we would not um you know be able to do anything if it was you know solid concrete um as well as that with that type of flooring abatement would not have to be done to the um flooring the existing vinyl flooring um for asbest so that there would be a cost savings there at least 25,000 um and there was also ideas of um creating a new ESS into the space and removing the existing one transferring the exit door to the outside to a um Lodge window and by having introducing this new egress which would still be internal to the building it would not require us to have to then do an exterior walkway to the sidewalk and so forth so it would just basically be as we have the current entrance there there would be another entrance at this end um and that would work for the egas um so there you know were some you know as I said some creative ideas for you know cost saving and so forth so I will be reaching out to some um architex and you know try to get the quotes and you know we even though as we enter tough budgetary times as this process has begun you know um we definitely don't want to lose the momentum on this um you know because this is kind of like in a side kind of project everything is you know kind of for future planning um but once we get that feasibility study that will be the guide for us moving forward so whether or not it'll be another two years or four years or what have you um you know we will have that plan and that's exactly what we need is the plan and the way that the arch Tech to Drew up uh what was necessary and the presentation of her ideas is the first time I've sat in a meeting about the back room that I wasn't like oh this is going we're gonna get buried by this project that was the first time everything seemed really positive and just everything that she put forth as potential for the back space it wasn't a crushing cost and the way that she mapped it out because she had it laid out in her report a certain way the first time I'd seen it like that and it was helpful to see it like that so I thought it was all really positive do you want to add anything I know Carol and Ralph are all there no December 5th is the meeting for the lobby and the furniture samples are getting dropped off on Thursday two chairs and a side table so we can see them in real life y also as part of the subcommittee meeting discussing the lobby overall and next bullet is the budget here yes so that we set sent out as a separate document with the reports yes um so as you are aware there was um a meeting that some members of the board and staff and supporters attended which was a joint meeting of the board of Selectmen and the finance committee um there had been um information shared to me to share with the staff about the potential for cuts to the library that would end up um resulting in a closure of a day of service um as it is anticipated that there will be service cuts um supposedly across the board um and so um we had attended that meeting that meeting specifically was to um for the two groups to come together for a percentage um for budgets so and it was discussed and finalized at looking at a 4% increase um to Department budgets so I you know the two things that generally change for our budget is salary and the materials budget because as anything goes up the materials budget has to go up um so the budget that I have here proposed um is only it works out to be about approximately a 2% increase it's actually like 1.94 um and it does show the wage and Personnel salaries at the base pay um as the cost of living increases are a separate article at town meeting and there's no guarantee that those would be um supported so um we basically have to kind of Base the wage and Personnel salaries on the base salary for the steps then the union salary they do have a cost of living built into their contract and for this year it is a 2% increase so that is reflected um and then there's longevity benefits and sick leave buyback benefits um which longevity is obviously for the you know amount of time folks have been here there's an annual payout the sickly buyback is that union members um Can accumulate so many sick days and during any given fiscal year if that maximum amount is exceeded the town then buys back the overage um and off the top of my head I'm not sure exactly what what the number is um and so this year you know potentially we have staff that you know would meet that um requirement um as we move down to the individual budgets um and I'm just going to basically go over the highlights that I had um listed in in the um the draft um the properties and repairs um line was increased from $200 to 2,000 and that is to cover the water bills and the sewer bills the sewer bills are a new bill for us for fiscal 25 this budget is for 26 so we will most likely need to use other accounts to pay this year's sewer bills because this was something that was recently um sent to the Departments to be responsible for the water bills that was a switch um as facilities had been paying that when they recently changed it but the responsibility has come back to us so we increase that line that way um there was a contract Services account that we no longer need and so that 1825 basically has been incorporated into that 2000 for the property repairs um so there's really only $175 increase um actually it's a $25 reduction when combining the two um a nominal increase to the materials budget um the other supplies the town contract with the town vendor pertaining to printers and ink toners was not renewed so now beginning January departments will be responsible for providing their own maintenance and toner supplies yes so um in the past with this contract it was a matter of you know if something happened Xerox would be cop you know contacted the vendor would come in you know they would do the repairs and so forth are you to contact that same vendor but on your own individually that would there is no clarification with that um it is a matter of we do have for the public and staff copy of printers we have um you know a contract with the vendor for that ourselves we have release for th for those um so it's more of the desktop printers that that would be um we would then be responsible for that um but there are a lot of local um vendors that can be utilized um at you know cost savings but it's really going to be probably the ink that is going to um you know potentially be um Troublesome to the the um budget um so that was slightly increased um by $500 to help leevy at um that requirement um the software subscription budget was increased by $1,000 that was um doing light to the transfer from Plymouth rocket to assabet which is basically double the cost um of you know plumouth rocket so we will um need to um you know have additional funds to cover that increase um and then the last increase was an increase to the ocn assessment um which was about which was $1,000 um so with those in total um as I've mentioned it works out to be about 2% increase um I do I think they'll be happy with given that they put yeah um so I do have a department head meeting tomorrow and I you know as we you know continue forward you know um obviously the financial land cap ape can change um but I will be also looking at constructing budgets that um would reflect um decreases in our budget um at different levels to ensure that you know my initial thought plan as I did last year was to you know reduce costs that did not impact people um but it may be quite possible that that will be the case this year um that we may have to look at that I just have one question if you look at prop the smaller under the highlights increases it says prod maintenance covers Water and Sewer bills so does the number that comes in under property repairs on the first page is 2,000 correct is that meant to cover the increase of the sewer and water that is correct because fiscal 25 that we're currently in so if we go back to fiscal 24 we originally had a budget of 1,200 that 1,200 so this line was originally created for the for the putting up and taking down of the large tent during covid times um and which now actually that $1,200 would only cover one side in since we're not actually doing that any longer I reduced it to zero for fiscal 25 the accountant at that time said we needed to leave some money in there for the water bill because we would now be responsible so she put 200 in well the $200 was good for one water bill for the library in the atam center so we will be looking for another um method to pay for the rest rest of the um you know quarters and we have at this point we have not received any SE bill so I have no concept of that um so this number of 2,000 is it really has no basis does it that is correct but it's a nominal increase to you know I mean if we have state a you know as an assessment yes so if this was higher then we would have to look to cut down something else to cover up that that is correct that is correct and it because and it in some L accounts are fluid so for example um like other supplies would be an account that we paid for um processing materials for the for for books so like book cover spine labels and things like that and it is an kind of an eban flow of you of usage and need so you know as we go through the fiscal year we monitor the accounts to see where um you know where the needs are and whether or not things need to be cut whether things need to be held off to you know purchase for next fiscal year or whether we use um you know state aid um because it is a greater need we have made the requests both myself and Karen have made the request for the um past bills um so that we can kind of have something to guide on I mean the water bill for example it's going to be kind of skewed um because it was work done to the men's room that the waterless urinal was replaced with an actual autof flush flush urinal um so there is going to be definitely double water usage you know at least um with that and but the sewer bill we have no concept at this time um you know but as we move along in the you know Financial process we can amend that line as we get H data to um support I'm just wondering whether both Water and Sewer can give you a good better estimate of what it would be we have the requests s yeah okay that's that's fine and as far as in my I'm assuming that the top half of this first page which is uh which is incomes it's salaries yes the salaries they're pretty set aren't they that is the that is correct the only change that could occur to there would be that the upper tier so the Librarians and myself potentially could get a 2% cost of living increase um but these are set unless they were to force us to leave have to leave somebody cut somebody that is correct because your other costs are I mean except for your dues in membership yeah and the the book budget like those are the those are the big ones yeah which are very large but Jesus Christ I mean there isn't very much there to move around that's why we try to be creative well you I mean yeah to be creative but at some point reality uh just sticks on it just sticks on and it it requires significant reductions okay I I don't mean to make [Laughter] it I'm just trying to set it in my own mind what we're going to have to on now is this draft budget going anywhere or is this for you to work with at this point this is for me to work with at this point the budget we have not been requested to submit our budgets um yet I'm thinking potentially at tomorrow's department head meeting that might be when that ask is made for departments to put in um you know their requests um but there hasn't been a formal request yet next is the director's report director's report yes okay um so I just want to touch base on um the book and treat program that we held at the rebuilding in partnership with Parx and Recreation um it was quite successful we had a couple hundred families attend um it was definitely more for our part it was a more streamlined um you know effort um in with the recreation department doing a lot more upstairs um they were able to utilize volunteers that the library had um for a lot of the games and activities um the photo booth was a true success um you know we saw members of the community we saw a lot of non-residents as well um and there was a lot of positive feedback that um you know came from that so I was very happy with that um I've attended some various webinars um succeeding with Community Partnership um to ensure your library's Health give your Communications a full check webinar um there has been a lot of training sessions in regards to the new online calendar and Museum passord reservation system um there were three sessions that I attended and then we had individual um one-on-one sessions with various staff members um so right now the Museum passes are set to go live the online calendar um Librarians are in the process of uploading their events to the calendars once that is completed um the next challenge will be um adding the coding for these to the library's website um which at times does not this particular product at times does not play well with Civic plus which is the platform that the town uses for with the website um things doable it may require instead of us just adding code and things work it may be that we have to work with Civic Plus for them to do some manipulation of other things um to ensure that that is achieved um I met with the COA director concerning the STA um I call it sta that was from another town it was the same exact program but it was the senior tax um write off um program um what this program allows is for you know seniors of a certain age to work um so many hours and um get money taken off the annual tax bill um we are departments are asked to create um job descriptions for these position positions um and it recently you know was made know to known to me that um currently the members that we have doing this program actually do not meet the requirements of the job descriptions in the sense of the mobility and being able to do um you know the activities that are listed in those job descriptions um so they are doing other tasks that are beneficial to the library um however the specific things outlined in that not um so I wanted to meet with the um interv director to discuss the the process how it is you know determined um it was a program that they inherited two years ago so it's still kind of a work in progress for them as well um so while meeting with her I did invite her um to participate in luminaries this year um as I feel that it is a department that you know could um benefit from having that you know interaction with the community um we originally were going to have them at the COA due to the timing um inv volunteers they um will be basically set up here in the library we're going to give them space here um I did at the last department head meeting also um mention it to other departments that potentially next year that if there were other departments that were interested um in doing this kind of community you know Outreach kind of programming that we could definitely set it up at the atom Center so whether it is the you know Board of Health conservation or whoever um you know we can do tables with table cross decorations have music playing what have you they have some cute giveaways information about their departments um you know that it would be extended you know to anybody who would be interested um I have been working on the um the request for the return of the autograph book from The Archives collection that we have previously um discussed um the paperwork has been submitted um to the First Parish church and they do have the signatures so we will be um meeting with them to for us to sign off on the forms and then um they will um we will give them the autograph book and then the ownership of the Women's Alliance Group will then become possession of the Kingston library archives um um so there would not be any um you know future issues with that um I have been meeting with the staff internally as well as kind kind of having impromptu conversations with um Recreation about luminaries um we are meeting on the 22nd um to Hardline things um as well as um collect um we both have been collecting data for various Community groups that participate in the program so that we will be able to promote their activities as well um we my we meeting myself and the facilities director um met last Wednesday with the um Sign Company concerning the issues with the LED sign um and they were on site for three hours they did repairs they took individual panels off of the sign to check for any potential corrosion or potential near future issues um and there was one part that needed to be um replaced for for the potential of you know in a month they'll be back sort of thing um so we did discuss them talking to the technicians to work with their Engineers to come up with some type of encasement of the sign to um you know because on one hand it it's been an issue about power supply and now it appears to be weather related with infiltration of um you know liquids you know water what have you and um I did we did hear back from the head of the head of their Department um that their Engineers are not interested um nor is there a support to do an inclosure um um specifically one because the potential for enclosing it with um you know plexiglass would result in time it um you know yellowing and so forth so um with that said this morning I then sent an email to them with photos of the current status of the sign as um the southbound South Side facing sign um there was discoloration in the panels um with a bar of a solid color a blinking color and what have you um so photos were sent um they are supposed to be meeting with their team tomorrow including the engineers to talk about um you know what is potentially can be done I mean obviously this time it can't be blamed on rain I was gonna say it has rained in y however long exactly um so you know I'm you know hoping that we can come to a resolution and a solution um but I'm not very hopeful and um you know for some of the repairs that they did um the other day you know for the that or basically parts that we had in the boxes out back the boxes are starting to get slim um you know and so we we may have to look into other um you know options moving forward um this is becoming your new Hightech chandelier shade yes yes at least it's not really taking any physical you know manual labor you know like a flooded elevator pit um sort of thing so um but those would be the highlights of the report other than um I can go statistics um I just want to say before you go into statistics that I appreciate you reaching out the inclusivity of inviting other departments to participate in luminaries either in the atam center or here since we Define Library as a community Hub it makes sense absolutely absolutely so for the statistics of October um the overall stats for physical items was 11,038 that was up um over September which was at 10,00 751 um also the number of holds placed increased from 974 to 1123 um we are holding kind of steady on the mid 50s for new Patron registrations um which has been kind of the standard for us for a while now um but it is definitely higher than it has been um during my tenure so that is great to see um and also included is the um hoopla transaction so for calender year of January to now it is um we've had 4,344 items that were um borrowed at a cost of $9,900 any questions on donal's report or the statistics I'm not seeing any the staff reports also went out um in the same email any questions or comments on [Music] those say is that everyone seems to reporting back and in every Department he all seem to be doing wonderful agree I mean it's amazing to me how much these people are actually doing they're not just sitting around yeah they're not shushing people some young and excited people here am um we uh oh Debbie Grace head of the foundation joined at joined us at 606 would you like to give an update on the um Foundation sure we are um in the process of selling the Elf on the Shelf kits we still have um a couple of those left um we can sell those up till the end of November since the elf arrives shortly after that so you need to have them timely um we had a great turnout on Saturday for the 15th anniversary celebration the foundation had lots of great conversations with people in the lobby who didn't know a whole lot about what we do um it was also amazing to see how many families were in Care on a Saturday and how many families just kind of sat in the children's room on Saturday to read like there were families that were there for probably two hours or more just hanging out which was very nice to see um and fall appeal letters have gone out and we are running a little kind of competition if you get your appeal letter in before December 4th uh December 3D um on the 4th we will pick um we have a gift certificate to the Dan Webster in so your name will be added to that drawing great well congratulations on Saturday being a success thank you look for us I think in the February issue of Kingston living hopefully that's what we've been told could be could change next item on the agenda is payment of bills and we don't have any the the bonding is paid um old business oh to confirm our December date in which we may or may not have a presentation did the 16th is that right okay the 16 16 just out of curiosity I saw that we at least what I have in my phone I could be behind I've scheduled up through March are we scheduling any further out at this point in time or are we holding off until further notice we could schedule out more for the six months just because I know you know I don't want to kind of run ground with the six month rule we can add or what we could do is um at either the December meeting or January meeting set the dates for the full calendar year so that they're at least a placeholder they could fluctuate obviously if there is going to be a quorum adjustments could be made but then that way if we just do it for the year um the calendar year then what don't have to be fussing with are we are we enough yeah and then everybody's with planning if folks are trying to plan other events or something they'll know in ahead of time okay new business uh just two quick things um so the library will be closing on December 16th um for Alice training um so we'll be closing early um the staff will be going to the Council on Aging um there has been um an asked by the town for departments to undergo Alis training fire extinguisher training and um emergency evacuation training so um there are scheduled times at Town Hall but other departments have to set up their own times um so in collaboration um the fire department will be the police will be providing the training um at the Council on Aging um for that date and then on December 21st um we will be closing at 3 for luminaries setup okay I'm not seeing any I'll take a motion to a JN all in favor officially aded at 6:38