This is a recording of the South by Public Library Board of Trustees. It is May 6 at 7:02 p.m. and we will do a roll call. So here in person is myself, Lynn
Blair, Cindy Warner, Andrea Bumpy, Michael McMahon, and on Zoom, Tracy Mesoir, Tammy, I don't know if you can hear us. Okay, I can. Sorry, I was couldn't find my mute button. Tammy side baselon.
Great. And if somebody wouldn't mind taking minutes for the evening. I was hoping we could kind of go back to the, you know, rotating schedule for minutes just because it makes it so much easier. Um, so Andrea was kind enough to do them last time. Is there anybody who'd be willing to do them tonight?
I'll do it. Thank you. A quick comment under public comments. since we have no members of the public here. Uh, a former trustee who was trustee back in 2007 2008 somewhere in
that time period was Debbie Ransio. She passed away here. Here's a obituary I found on the Hartford current online. It doesn't mention an obituaries, but I looked and
I said, "Wait a minute. She was a trustee." So, if you go on the towel website, I found the 2008 library report. All the trustees. I knew Debbie was on
here. He was a lovely person. Spell her name right. Thought this August would have been their 50th wedding anniversary. Yeah. All right. Um, so I can move on to communications.
And I know I did send everyone and I didn't I did it again. I did not print off the um the report for the department head meeting, but that's no problem. Send my email.
Okay. Just a moment. Okay. Um, so our April report that I shared with the department head meeting this morning, um, in April we circulated 5,63 physical items. That is a
9.63% increase from April 24. So another good increase. Um, there were five adult programs with 37 attending. uh five kids programs with 100 attending, one general audience with
13, 17 programs with 86 attending. One of the biggest programs of the month was the babysitting class that we do for the teens with the 4 that usually fills up almost immediately and is extremely popular. Uh the plant swap
was this past weekend. That was really fun. Um, so we did two days of collection on Thursday and Friday and first thing Saturday morning and it started at 10:30 and we had a lot of people here ready at 10:30 waiting to to
come in and and take stuff home. Did it um was it a lot of work? Was the popularity of it worth the effort? Yeah, I think so. I think um new faces um people were extremely enthusiastic
about it. People who love plants really love plants. Um so it was yeah I think I think it was worth it. Um and it was a good way to just also kind of be like hey you're here but also check out our seed library and we had books out and everything. Um so I think it went pretty
well. Um April has was busy preparing for our summer reading program. So, each department is going to host between five to seven events. The pre-registration is going to start a little earlier this year because we want to catch the teens before they disperse into the wind for the summer. Um, so we're going to start
that on June 10th. And the kickoff is June 21st. So, mark your calendars. Okay. Okay. You can't talk so fast. We want to take notes. Yep. Okay. So, April, there's five to seven events for summer reading. Yep. For each
department. So, we've got a busy calendar. Okay. Um, pre-registration is June 10th and the kickoff is the 21st. And so the whole thing will run for six weeks and the culminating event
will be August 1st and um the children's room is hosting a mobile mini golf but that'll be different. Um, is that where you bring in a vendor and they've got Yeah, they set everything up and Yeah. I I'm not sure how she's going to do the
logistics of it. Um, but I believe it's going to be inside. So, yeah, the libraries have done that for fun. That should be interesting. Um, Monday, May 19th, I'm attending the
one day of the Massachusetts Library Association conference out in um Oh, okay. Yeah. So, I got to get up super early and then and then stay the whole day and trick back, you know, so
it'll What day of the week is it? It's a Monday. You'd better go like Saturday. Justin, make sure you get there in time. I wish I wish there's only two bridges unless you unless you fly in to the airport. Yeah, we're we're going to see
how it goes. Yeah, I I'd love to be able to attend multiple days, but the hotel costs are just it's not happening. Um so that's May 19th. The town hall is having a health fair next Friday on the
16th. We will have a table there. Um, we are going to have a table at the Council of Aging, uh, the Council on Aging open house in June. And we just got asked to have a table at the Saturday, um, scouts event
at the end of this month where they do like the the derby with the little cars. Yes, that's the one. I was picturing them doing like down College Highway, but then somebody corrected me and said that no, they're they're little. I'm like thinking I'm like, did they close down the street? How does this work?
What is it? The soap box derby or pinewood? Pinewood. So the pinewoods, they're like little wooden cars and they Yeah. So yeah, we'll we'll promote um paint them. We'll promote summer reading there. Um the friends at the library are going to be trying to do um several
membersonly events as a kind of a way to entice people to sign up for the friends. We are going to be having a um Nancy Zadun is going to be two doing two card making sessions. Her cards are beautiful if you've ever seen them. Um, two of those. We are going to have a
another session of the sourdough starter class which was extremely popular. And um, then we're going to be doing a coffee and chocolate pairing slashtasting. So, they're going to try to do those as just as members only
um to hopefully just drum up some interest in in being a member. If you have seen, we have posted our summer page position that closes um May 16th, next
Friday. Um we hire a summer page every year during our busiest season to just help out with everything that goes on around here. Um they do 18 hours a week for eight weeks. So if you know of anybody who might be interested, feel free to pass the word along. How old do they have to be?
I believe I believe they have to be 16. Okay. But if you if you send me an email to remind me, I will double check. Um see, we had seven staff were CPR certified on April 2nd. Um on May 15th,
the teen department again. Anytime. Tell me to put the brakes on. Is that a new high number of people trained? It's usually about usually there's there's usually a couple people that just can't make it because of their schedules.
That would have been good. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, that was fun and um yeah, and helpful. They did the AED training and everything. When was that? When did that happen? April 2nd. Uh May 15th, the teen department is
going to be doing a meet and greet with the fire department so the teens can learn about careers in fire and emergency services. Um I'm going to skip the bit on the IMLS because that's I have later.
And then if you haven't, um National Library Week was earlier in April on the wall outside the restrooms here. Um we displayed everything. So, I think there were some really, really great responses. And what did you do with
those? Do you still have them? They're They're not still on the walls. Oh, them. They're going to stay there for a while. Yeah, I think. Yeah, it looks really good because we might need those later. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. No, I wouldn't I would definitely not throw them out if we ever took them down. No, I like them up there. They'll probably
have a home there for a while. Um, let's see. I think that was it from our department's report. So, I have the April minutes.
correction. You'd like to have a vote on it. All in favor? Michael? Yes. Yes. Cindy, yes. Andrea, yes. Tracy, yes. Sammy, yes. Um again we had another increase in
circulation from 24 to compared to 25. That's been really good. Um, and then all the the digital, the hooplin, the Libby, all that seems to be increasing. Um, as far as the programs go, you'll notice that adult programs
were a little bit less in April. We just had a bit of a quieter month, which sometimes every now and again is needed. um because we started off May with a bang with the plant swap and then last night we had upwards of 40 people for the talk on the quabins. So we've
basically just crushed um April's numbers within like the first week of May. So you know it's give or take. Yeah. Have you had you said increase in hoopla as well? Like have you had
feedback from the I try to borrow shops. Limit is reached. My boys woke up at like seven one morning because they're like we couldn't get it. What the No, I mean only one person had come in with a question. There's been no
negative feedback. I think the people we've talked to just understand the reasoning why. Um, and last month our bill was like right around $450, which is perfect, which is what we want to be able to just maintain it and not have an
astronomical bill. Um, so no, I have not heard any negative feedback other than just people just asking a simple question. Hey, what's up? What's going on? You know, so I think people are really understanding. So questions about the baby welcome bags.
I feel like in the past several months that we've looked at this that there haven't been any. And um we our children's librarian was on maternity leave. So she was with other baby things. Yes, she was busy with
other baby things. And as far as um honestly I was more concerned on trying to manage the dayto-day, you know, it's something that we definitely need to market more. Um, but it's also something that, you know, was not like a kind of an immediate, you know, we have to do
this, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm sure there's there's probably more people um that we could reach that have babies that don't realize it's a thing. So, So, is she back yet or she's still Yep. Yep. She came back last week. So, she is she is
back. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yes. So now she's we're just playing catchup and just getting ready for for the summer. But yeah, I mean still the the teen department had a really good month and the children's department had a fantastic month. So overall um program
numbers were were still very strong. Any questions about either of the statistics numbers? I I do want to um give you congratulations uh again for like all of the different
outreach that you're doing council on aging and the scouts and something at town hall and all of that all these like bringing yourself to all of these arms I personally think probably lends to you know these numbers that are increasing
that's a lot of hard work but and we're also going to we're having somebody go to Woodland is having it's either a game night or a movie night. I can't remember what it is at the elementary school, but um they did ask us to come and do talk about summer reading there, too. So, hopefully that'll really we're we're
hoping to have a a better summer reading attendance this year. I think last year kicking it off on the same day as motocross really hurt us. So, to slightly segue into the old business here, um I did mention opening day is the 21st.
um 10 to 12:30 we'll have popcorn, a zoo, a pig, magic, whatever you want. So, I think it'll be really fun. Um we're starting pre-registration earlier, so hopefully it can kind of tamp down on everybody
trying to sign up on that one day. Um and then yes, so that will be um I did I know I mentioned previously I did pull the staff because the last Saturday is going to be motocross. half think it's going to be a lot of trouble to try to fight through traffic
and parking issues and whatever. So, um June 21st will be our last Saturday open for the summer. So, we'll just make sure that we kind of communicate that. We should start doing that now. Um communicate that as early as possible so
people know, right? Um, so yeah, that's the summer hours uh CPC project. So I did select I can't remember what we discussed last month. I believe I did select a bid last month. Um the town administrator approved it.
It was the second most expensive bid, but I felt that it was the most comprehensive. Um the the contractor was the most enthusiastic about it. He had a lot of ideas. He was the one who painted out the area, took an aerial shot with a
drone. Um, and so right now Cindy's talking with Nancy about fundraising and then Pat was trying to reach out to Senator Mark about I'm not sure how that works with their budget
and like if it's leftover funds at the end of the year. No, this point the House has passed their their preliminary budget. The Senate's still working on on theirs. Both the House and Senate stick
money in there. Like you'll see the actual state budget. Let's say 50,000 for Westfield for such and such. Eggwam 25,000 for such and such a project. Springfield two or 300,000 on two or
three different projects. It it's kind of like Congress where they kind of slip in through a committee x number of dollars for particular project in their district. Sure. Yeah. So I think Pat was um
looking into seeing if that was an option to get some funds so we wouldn't have to fund raise as much. And that you you met with the senator. Well, I did. Yes. because he he showed up. Um he thought the appointment was at
1. Pat thought it was at two. So I think it must have gone through his assistant and maybe it didn't get communicated to him the right time or there was some type of miscommunication. Um so he showed up before anyone else was here and so I just briefly explained you know what what we were doing, what we were
looking for and he seemed enthusiastic about it. So, um, so the the Wolf family, I talked to them and they talked to all of the siblings or whatever, and so they want to kick off any donations for fundraising with $10,000 from the
family. Oh, wow. Um, so they love the idea, were very touched by the idea. They knew that it would mean the world to Irene. So, um, so they're willing to participate in any fundraising and stuff. And I mean, they're very
well in touch with the people in town and stuff like that. So, that they would do whatever they could, but wanted to kick it off with $10,000 actually from the estate. So, so I thought that was pretty
generous. Awesome. That's wonderful. Yeah. Thanks for the idea. And Yeah. Yeah. No, I was I was pleased with how well it was received. I guess they had like a family Zoom call because uh Larry is in Alaska
and the sisters are ones at the Cape and one's in uh New Hampshire. So, they are kind of scattered, but yeah, they all I got a wonderful call from Charlene who's the oldest daughter. So, she's very
excited about it. So, yeah. So, you know, we'll come up with some ideas, working with the friends of the library to come up with some fundraising ideas or whatever. And I think with their support, we'll get I mean, he was chief of police. I would think that the police department was also a volunteer fireart
fireman. He was the milkman in town for a long time. She worked at the libraries and at the schools. So, I think that they'll have enough support um as well to to support something there, too. So,
All good. No. Yeah, it is. School year 2025 year end budget. Nothing of no other than we are just we seem to be on good track for closing out the end of the year. Um no major concerns there. Your your any books and
stuff. You've got that stuff in the Yeah. Well, I did um I did set a deadline for everyone to finish um purchasing by the end of the month and also don't purchase anything that's published later than like June 1st just to make sure that everything couple years ago do it in
June. And yeah, the accounts office says, "Well, we haven't gotten the invoices yet. You've got all this extra money and you're saying, well, no, we've spent almost all of it just timing of the invoices." Yeah. and our and the the company has been shipping slower. So,
we're just making sure that everything is, you know, done and ordered and has no publication date later than that. Unfortunately, it just means that, you know, patrons won't get some like new best-selling, you know, ones until the beginning of July. But, how does the
FY26 budget look since you said you had just gotten I just got it like an hour and a half ago. So, you haven't memorized yet? Seriously? Yes, I know. I highlighted it. I was I was pushing in the 12:30 to
get get the date and it said filtering me. Yeah. So, um this is just a photo copy. We have we have the whole thing, but I just photocopied the library page for you all. Um so, looking at it, um the staff salaries and my salary are a
3% increase. the assistant director is at 6%. Um, library maintenance and maintenance contracts, you'll see that there's like the the negative 73 and the increase of 349%. So, um, that is those two lines
are controlled by maintenance. So, what they do with that is up to them. They did decide that they wanted to kind of flip-flop the funds in each line because they found that they were spending um less on maintenance and more on the contracts. So, um we would we would
always go negative in one and then have more in the other. So, they flip-flopped it this year so that um the contracts would have more in that line. and electricity and fuel. Um, they decreased our budget 12% in electricity
and down 23% in fuel. So, I obviously haven't had the chance since I've gotten this to take a look at, you know, where we stand this year. Um, my assistant director gives me a weekly report of our budget lines so I know how we're
progressing through each and everything. Um, and so I'm going to sit down, probably try to sit down tomorrow to just look at our lines to see, you know, I'm not necessarily concerned about losing 12% in electricity, but 23% in fuel seems like a lot. Um, so I'll have
to look at our line and about 10 or 12 years in a row after we insulated the building. We were at 8,400 for like 10 years in a row and it seemed to cover the bills.
We were using like 16 or $18,000 a year to heat and cool this building for years and then they discovered there was no insulation in the attic. They spent 60 or 80,000 putting in foam insulation and in the following 10 or 12
years 8,400 covered it which is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm gonna try to spend some time tomorrow looking at seeing how our current year is going. Um, because usually we can kind of tell. I mean, obviously it's always hard to tell with
fuel and electricity costs. Um, you know, see how this year has played out and, you know, see what we can expect next That's good that both you and the assistant director got some increases because remember we were pushing for
that example for her that kind of thing. Did they finally give you another two or three year contract? Yes. Well, I haven't gotten it yet, but Okay. It's It expires June 30th, right? I knew it expired. Yeah. So, I haven't gotten a copy of it yet. Um but I know it's in
the works. Okay. And no additional staffing. No, that was that was not approved. But good thing to ask because Oh, yeah. It's so absolutely. Um and then they did um give us a 2% increase in theformational
materials which has to happen because that line needs to be 19 at least 19% of our budget. So we usually need a small increase in that every year in order to meet that state requirement. Um so I did run the numbers. So yes, we do meet the 19% requirement and we do meet our municipal
approval appropriation requirement. Obviously each year that our budget does not increase at a large amount. Um we're getting we're getting closer and closer to meeting that requirement. Um so it's just something to keep an eye on for
future years. Is the phone system fully operational? Two or three instruments that Yes. Yeah, the phone the phone system is operational. We did run into a bit of a snag in that I was able to cancel our existing Verizon, one of our
existing Verizon lines. And then lo and behold, there's like three or four other random Verizon lines that are attached to HVAC alarm system that I was not aware of. So, we are still going to get a small bill from our
Verizon and then a bill for our new phone system. which I think I think we'll be okay. Obviously, I'll I'll keep an eye on it, but I had no idea that, you know, I was talking to Verizon and they said, "No, no, you have all these other They sent
me a list of like four or five other lines and I was like, I have no idea what these are. I have no idea what they are." Phone in the attic or in the bank. Well, yeah, but one of Find out about my secret cell phone. Yes. Longist dialing from the library.
Yeah. So, um, but yeah, I mean otherwise, um, we we did know it was going to be a tight year, so I don't think anything is a a surprise. If anything, I'm I'm just, you know, I'm I'm happy that we got the slight increase in theformational
materials to meet that requirement. And that the free cash from last fiscal year was over 4 million. So, the town is not too tight. precash is what's sitting in your checking account on June 30th that you
haven't spent to the new year yet. And I do apologize for both of you on Zoom. I have just gotten it not too long ago, so I didn't have the chance to email it to everybody. Um, but it should be posted on the town website right in the next day. I was hoping that this because I said to them, I said, "Well, I've got a meeting
tonight." And they said, "Oh, is the meeting here?" I said, "No, it's at the library." So, I didn't ask, but in my own mind, I think they're going to try to pump out the numbers to us. Yeah. Before the meeting. Yep. Um,
so yeah, I I think it's, you know, I think it's it'll do because I wanted to make sure you got a raise and the assistant director got a raise and that we met Mar and the rest of the Yeah. Yeah. We It looks like we're in good shape for all of that. Um, you know, and
I'll just look at the utilities lines tomorrow just to make sure. You know, obviously it's it's impossible to predict utilities costs six months from now, but Verizon will tell you doing an increase a month ahead of time. They won't tell you in May what it's going to
be next January. Yes. Okay. Any other questions about anything on that? Um, still nothing to note as of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the dismantling of that. Um, as far
as I know from paying attention to the emails that are coming through, I think the the three biggest concerns are just um potentially losing the statewide databases, potentially losing the Commonwealth catalog, which allows us to request things from like Boston all
throughout Massachusetts, and then um potential effects to Libby regards to longer wait times and less items available. Let's I still haven't gotten any concrete information on when things are happening, if they're
happening. Those are just kind of what we're keeping an eye on. Yeah. Because looking at the MBLC website and looking at some of the stuff, they said some of the staff positions at MBLC are funded. They are by Washington. Yes.
And one of the things I was reading today said they're below their normal staffing and the current staffing they can't really go below that without directly impacting service for
libraries. That's correct. Yeah. And the state senate hasn't come up with their budget proposal yet. and then whatever they come up with that then compares to the House budget and then they have a conference committee. The House budget
apparently took, as I understand it, took the governor's proposal for the MBLC. So hopefully we can get the Senate proposal a little higher and go from there. I didn't understand
that. So in other words, the the state house passes their budget proposal, the state senate passes theirs, then go to a conference committee to iron out the differences because typically one will be few hundred,000
less than the other one. So they'll go to conference committee, come up with a number, and then it has to go back to the House and Senate to vote on that new number. and then it goes to the governor for signature. So, we don't have the Senate
version yet. They're still working on theirs. The House passed theirs um I think early this past week and there were six no votes including our state. He usually votes against the
whole budget. He's he's voted in favor, I think, twice in the last 10 years. kind of going along with that. Um, Andrea came up with a draft letter um that she thought we as a board send out both the impeachment. Well, there we
go. It's a very thick print. I know it's this is nice quality. I know, which in this case would be including our state senator and anyone else you think it would be appropriate to send it to where Andrea kind of summarizes this
is this is what you're you're dealing with. The the one thing though I I read it again this morning and do we have a co do we really have a call for action if you were received this letter as to what you let's say I'm
the state senator what you want me to do and then received the letter have we gotten that point across enough or do we need to just tweak the letter a little bit? Well, so that's the question. My understanding is that there's so much in
the up in the air that it's hard to have a specific call to action. Um, and if if we can think of one, I'm all for it and we'll happily edit this however you guys like. Um, my thought
was that it would behoove the library trustees to uh let Senator Mark and Representative Buliga and our select people and maybe the finance um the for the town budget that's going to be voted
on the annual town meeting in two weeks. They've already cast that in in concrete or marble. That's where this came from. That's what just came out. So, we can't really do anything bad. There would have to be a few bucks from
the state to put into the MBLC budget to fill at least part of that gap on the MBLC budget because even the federal money that normally comes from Washington that's now the issue that normally comes
to the MBLC and then it feeds it out to pay for statewide databases or to do different things. So just given the time of the world we are maybe you could explain a little better
what your goal was or your objective in came up with this. Um I think I was responding to uh things many library requests in this area that you know we speak out and we reach out to people. My
concern is that over the next year, um, federal funding equals state funding. When the state doesn't get the federal funding, then the state has to cut back and then the town has to cut back.
So I think having an active education campaign about how the library is a very important town resource early and often and
loudly makes sense. That's that's all I was thinking. And we don't I mean we don't even have to but nothing has even come out with what they're closing down all of these departments but nothing has even come out with where that funding is going to
go and what they're going to do with it or even even the legality of it because there's still an issue of can a president reduce funding that Congress has appropriated. That being
said, if you have people losing their jobs, you don't have the manpower to make sure that these things are getting to where they need to go, right? Whether or not it's legal. So, like the funding's not going to be available, right? Even if there's legally $1,000 in
the bank account, if there's nobody to process the purchase orders, you're not getting it. It's still going to sit in the checking account. And right now with all these court cases going on in Washington, you don't know
will people be brought back to work who've been fired. Or sometimes they're saying we're we're putting you back on the payroll, but we're refusing to let you into the building and we've already taken away your keys, so you can't get
into the building. And then the new fiscal year starts October 1st for the federal government. It goes October through September rather than July through June used to locally. Next year's budget is dropping
$163 billion out of this year's budget. they're giving an extra hundred billion to DoD and HHS, but for the other agencies, they're dropping 163 billion. But then it's up
to Congress to decide how much they're going to appropriate, and then it goes back to that other issue of do you have to spend all the money or can you hold back some of it. So, that's all up in the air and that's going to be
up in the air for months. That's why it's a good point that you to you know you in writing this letter to saying bottom line is out in the field in Massachusetts for libraries.
Are they going to be able to keep the same databases funded by Boston or is Boston gonna lose employees and some of the databases or cut back on delivery to libraries from three times a week to
twice a week? You know, nobody knows. So, I think looking at this letter that the crux of why it's being written then is at the end of the second paragraph, right? The matter demands local and legislative act legislative action now while details of these cuts
remain uncertain. So I'm very comfortable sending this. I'm happy to put my name on it. Um if we wanted to be more forward with why we're sending it, then I think we just need to move that further to the beginning. And I don't think we
necessarily have to. I'm just saying that if that's a question of this letter, then that's where I would push it. That was my English teacher. as I say. I I was just reading it again and okay, does the recipient of the letter
are they going to know why they're why they're getting this letter? You know, have Yeah. So, so part of it is informing them as to what the IMLS actually means to the libraries, you know, what it's
doing. But you're right, the call to action is, you know, what are the details of the cuts? Where's this money going in lie of whose pocket is planning?
Yes, I heard nothing, but yeah. Well, that that's why the BLC, if you go on their website, they're calling it the May 2nd update, and they're saying We don't know what the impact's going to be. We don't know
how we're going to be impacted. I look at it like, oh, there's a nuclear bomb in the sky. Well, let's not do anything because we don't know what the impact is. Oh, no. No. Yeah, we we definitely makes sense to raise the
alarm. I see troops coming off a ship. I wonder where they're going. So overall, do you think the message is covered in the letter or do we need to tweak it? Do you want to take a stab at
tweaking it? I would simply take the last sentence of the second paragraph, move it to become the second paragraph and leave everything else exactly the same and move this up here as its own paragraph, this sentence.
Yeah. And then what that does also in addition to putting that purpose right at the beginning you have um that yes this feels like an obscure cut however the IMLS is responsible for and then goes
into everything that it does and why it's so impactful. So it brings those pieces together really nicely. AP length for the win. I only hope next week when my students take their test on the 15th that they write as well as you
did. And can I use this as an example in my class on argument writing? Sure. Absolutely. Sure. They would want to vote on this. Can the people online, have they seen the letter? They haven't seen it. Okay.
So, can we send it out to everybody and have everybody look at it? Are you looking for us to add our signatures? Well, I don't know if we need actual signatures or just the names. I think it has more weight if we
add our signatures to it. Okay. Soon we could have the final letter here says the five times great granddaughter of John Hancock. So we would have throwing that out there. Just throwing that out there. Signatures have meanings, right? We
would have the final letter here and everyone would stop by and sign it. I I would Yeah. Or Yeah. and have the copies for each person that we are sending it to so that we can just go
Yeah. Does that sound reasonable to the people that are here virtually and then you can see the copy of it? Tammy's giving a thumbs up so and same with Tracy. All right. Good. Yeah. Just let us know when they're here. we committed technically to keep
the open meeting law healthy we for those of us in the room we'll vote on it now because again you can't have virtual voting okay yeah under the open meeting law
so motion to accept with the change of the sentence placement second all those in favor of Michael yes Jen Cindy, yes. Andrew, yes. So, if you do decide to do that, just um I am out of the office Thursday through
Monday, but I'll let Heather know what's going on. So, if you happen to drop it off because you'll probably want to do it sooner rather than later. If you happen to drop it off, um if it's after tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., I will not be here. Um but I'll let Heather know so she'll be aware and she can kind of
facilitate, you know, that from there. Okay. still and the other issue. So, we'll be sending this to Senator Mark and anyone else? I think we need to send it to Senator
Bald Representative Baldiga. Okay. Regardless of Right. I think we also need to send it to the newspaper saying that we are sending this. Okay. Sorry. And
Is this something to make the select board aware of just or is it too soon because it hasn't trickled down to town budget yet? Um well this the town budget is
already in correct in right I'm foreseeing in the future this possibly being a problem for us. So, is it too early to start letting our select board know that the library tell me many times over and over again
otherwise it doesn't sink in. So, it probably would make sense to send it to Florida. Okay. Okay. Or would we just CC the Springfield Republican and the Southwick Select Board after we mail out the
letters? They get it. Sure. Carbon copy. So that's that's what I would do. We sign our signatures and we put that it's carbon copy to the South Select Board. You don't toot your own
horn. Don't expect anyone else to do it. You're saying the Springfield Okay. Republic or Mass Live or whatever the together. Yeah, they're all together.
Yeah, it it's the same company. Articles that show up in the Westfield News show up in the Republican a couple of days later. Okay. So, just to to know what to do next, I have this in my database and so I will make the corrections and I
will email them to you and or what you can do is print a copy. We'll have it here so we can then sign it. Okay. Yeah, just tell me um like how many how many copies you need. We can print the copies and then I can just leave it at the
circulation desk and let the staff know and then you guys can just come in. Your names would all be on it. Is there do we have a letter head? We actually do. If if you look at our um our agenda. Okay.
All right. So, yeah library. It's it's the it's the letterhead of the board of trustees. However, it's a very very old photo copy of the letterhead. I don't know if there's ever been any more of it. I have library letter. No, but I mean It could be it could be copied into
the document and just printed out on white paper, but it'll look like a letter head. I would do that so that it looks more official. Basically, it's the library letter head and we just
typed in board of trustees above it. Hey, I do this stud in Microsoft Word. Yeah. Keep it real simple. I'm just glad that you're not cutting and pasting like you're No, I don't. I do work. I used to do stuff in Word Perfect.
Okay. I remember Word Perfect. Okay. So, that I think I think I have this editable document. So, I think if I just take it and erase our agenda out of it, I should be able to just send you the letter head. Okay. In theory. We'll try that tomorrow morning. Okay. If it's an
essential hard to get it ready. It's but I mean it it it is a tough situation in the case of libraries around the country because all of a sudden an agency in effect disappears overnight like what there was a tweet an hour ago you're
gone and people find that out in all sorts of entities could be housing there could be head start or food programs problems have disappeared a moment's notice. My sister and my brother-in-law work at the
IRS and being gutted. So, it's really Yeah, they're looking at eliminating another 20,000. I think that might be mine. No, I was going to say mine makes the exact same Li. Do we have anything else? Yeah,
there's just um two other brief things I did have on here. Um recognition for long-term employees. I'm sure all of you know Paul who um well originally I did put it on here because originally um he
thought his anniversary was 2000, making this year 25 years. It was 2002, so it's technically 23 years, but that's still a substantial amount of time. And we have another employee who I believe is coming up
on 20 years. Um, so I didn't know if there was anything that a board would want to do. Obviously, we don't have to make any decisions, but just to kind of plant a seed in your mind of anything that you might want to do to recognize long-term employees. Let's fire them.
Andrea's fired up tonight. All right. Here's your cupcake. All of your years of service. Now you can leave. Andrea Trump need a little bit more self tanner. Okay.
I think that's a great idea to Yeah. So I mean So what are you thinking? Like a lunch or some type of you know I think I talked to I think the select board does like certificates. Um it sounds like but you know I know
yeah some some type of like it would some type of I don't know but if you did something nice like the lunch and then you also gave a certificate that's nice right? Yes. Yeah tend to give out certificates when you're leaving.
So it's kind of like subtle hint if you're getting a certificate you must be out of here already. Let's not do that. I worked for I worked for a company that the last thing that you wanted to win was the president's award because you could almost set your watch by how much time you had left with the company. It's
like here you go to get the president's award to get a trip to Puerto Rico for a week and when you come back your desk will be clean. Somebody else will be sitting there. Yeah. So we like I said we don't have to decide anything tonight. It's getting late. you know, we can um and also we
can think about what you would want to be for timelines. Would you want to recognize somebody to be considered sufficient? You know, 10 years, 20 years, 15 years, you know. So, when does the longevity pay come in? Is that in 10 years or 15 years? No,
that's five years. That's five years. So, I get my longevity pay. Well, I mean, it's only like a nickel or a dime. It's something very small. It's like five bucks each paycheck. Okay. That's the coffee.
I'll take it. Um, yeah. That certificate look if it's printed on high quality paper. Yeah. Right. Might have a little gold leaf on it. Yeah. So, we can we can think about that. Um, you know, even if say even if he's only at 23 years, I
mean, that's his anniversary is in August, so it's still a substantial amount of time. Um, who was the 20 year? Oh, I believe it's 15 or 20. I'm I'm really tired. I want to say it's 20.
So, this is kind of a kooky idea. Lana lads up certificate, but like all of these chairs Oh, yeah. have little gold brackets on it honoring people. Could we put like a little gold
bracket on a bookshelf or something that just says that like something that's of like of interest to them like something like maybe Paul was like a certain subject or you know I mean he works with the reference department so he works with the non-fiction section so maybe something that's kind of relevant to
what they like. Exactly. And then still get him a cupcake. Yes. Yes. But any excuse for cake around here we're a coffee hug that says still in the stacks. I don't I like that.
Yeah. So, we'll we'll maybe circle back with that. And and then the um the last thing I just wanted to mention on here where it says reorganizing program schedules. Um so, I I did want to mention this.
Um there's a couple of our recurring programs that the attendance has really been decreasing. Um for example, one of them is the craft and chat. I find it hard to get people to come to that. And then the cookbook club, the the
attendance has been decreasing over the year. The cookbook club has really never rebounded after COVID. Um, and I would like to take some of our programs that don't maybe have like a a wide
interest. My idea I mean mainly for the cookbook club is and I and I hate to say this because there is a core group of people that come and they love it but this program makes me extremely nervous be and ever
since I have started it has made me extremely nervous. Well, why why allergens um you know people bring things in from you know the things that they've cooked at home. So allergens, you know, potential food poisoning issues. We do have a waiver that the
board of health did help me write which I think covers a lot. But at the same time, I it's it's always made me very nervous, you know, because people have allergies and you never know if somebody's cont kitchen is contaminated. And maybe I think too much about this
because my background is in service. You've always hated the cookbook club. It's been well known that you've always hated the cookbook club. Yes. It's And people love they they cookbook club. They do. We usually we've been getting
maybe like like seven to eight people or so. We used to have like 20 when it started. Yeah. Precoid you were getting and then after co after co hit it really um it really decreased. I did try to market it for a while but we had a hard
time getting new people to do it. And I I love the idea that it's, you know, of the community behind it, but it just makes me so nervous with all of the the risk involved. I'm just so afraid that somebody's going to get sick
or you if somebody if people are signing waivers, then there's no risk. So yeah, you just have to write that up. Yeah. People are taking the risk upon themselves. They are there are they are adults. the there's no kids that are
coming to it. So, you know, I hate to see that it's down to eight people because it used to be packed. It used to be packed. Yeah. It's never really rebounded after CO hit. There are lots of other places in town
where if you partnered to supply the cookbooks could host the evening and maybe that's what it needs to be revitalized and then you could retire your I hate the cookbook club shirt. Um so that's what I was going to say. Is
it is there another place in town that could host the cookbook club? Well, my thought was um was not was trying to find because people love the cooking programs and I think there's other ways of trying to host regular cooking
programs. Um I was in I don't it it may or may not work out. There was a guy who um he does like a soup making class and I was hoping to try to touch base with somebody who does like a bread makingaking class. So, I was thinking of trying to do something like that that
could potentially have a wider interest that we could try to get more people to attend just because um you know, I feel like the cookbook club as it's set up now, it's it's hard to get people interested in it. Um but if we have like
an actual class then any like when we've done the sourdough class and when we did um like healthy eating classes, those are usually pretty well attended. So, I was hoping to kind of take the idea of it and morph it into something else
that, you know, people would still really be interested in. On the flip side, I mean, there's no reason why a group couldn't meet in here if if somebody wanted to take it on themselves and kind of run it and
organize it. You know, I'm just I'm just so afraid of the the just the the potential implications and it's been going on for years and and there hasn't been any complaints of anybody being sick. So So I think you have your feelings about
it that are your feelings. Yes. Oh, absolutely. Okay. So I used to do the cookbook club. I know that there are people that are this is their social event of the month. Yes. And that's why I'm bringing it to you guys just for your thoughts because I don't I don't want to take something
away that's that people really love. Um but you know with with like with that and the craft and chat with just the kind of When is the next cookbook club? May it's usually the fourth Tuesday. So it would be
May 27th. So right after Memorial Day. All right. who wants to come to the cookbook club and have a discussion with those eight people or whatever that love it so much. Well, I don't want to cook. No, I know. I'm not saying that you need to cook, but I think we need to present
them with the fact that their numbers are down. They need to either start bringing friends. So, yeah. Or is there alternatives to the cookbook club that they would be comfortable that they would be comfortable with that they won't bring the library down? That's
yeah that's that's the thing is is I've been spending a lot of time trying to find like you know replacements you know with programs and presenters that could have a wider interest. Um I think Jen maybe I think Jen made a good point. I'm
not sure logistically if it works but like the Council on Aging or Park and Wreck or some other town entity um that has a kitchen. But these people aren't cooking here. They're just bringing in cooked food from a recipe. You borrow the
cookbook from the library. You go home. 10 or 12 of the same cookbook from Michael's around. No, no, I understand how it works. Yeah, you cook the thing at home and then you bl So, it doesn't even need to have a kitchen because no one's heating anything or anything. They're bringing
it up. Well, clean up maybe. But yeah, you could do that with wet paper towels. Sure. So, Um, I have to tell the board something. Is now a good time or would you like me to wait? Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Um, I'm
moving this summer and you'll need to find another trustee because I'll be out of the state. Is that allowed? You you you have to first let us know that you've turned in your resignation.
The resignation. Do I need to write a letter of resignation? Yes, it could be just a sentence which we have to go to the town clerk. Okay. Technically, we and the select board have to jointly appoint someone. Okay.
But it has to go to the town clerk keeping Massachusetts laws. Correct. I would like to not break the law. That'd be great. you have how how long more do you have on your term? I think it was just this last election,
so the whole term because I had told them that I hadn't planned on rerunning and then I kind of got told I was okay. So then Okay. But I say, and I wasn't sure
if we were going to be moving at that point, but now we're pretty committed. Yeah. Yeah. Let us know that you turned in the resignation and the town clerk is the one. And when when is this?
So, I don't have a hard date. My house is officially on the market on the 8th and I have an open house on Saturday that'll probably sometime um we have pre-approval and an offer going for a place in upstate New York
this week. So she probably be gone after the June meeting. So we will not be closing until after June 30th no matter what because I yeah I need my kids to finish school before I uproot them.
roughly say midsummer. Yeah. You have a wonderful sharp brain and I think we will miss you and good luck and thank you. After the meeting, I'll show you my building. I'm really excited. We're going to start a cat cafe. It's going to be amazing. Oh my god, that's
awesome. Very cool. We're gonna have a dope online presence that's kind of like an openhouse real life cat cafe thing because I'm doing it with my two brothers. Yeah. Like a super Okay, that's all. So,
do we have any other business or we finished? No, I mean I I I think I think we're finished unless there's any more comments about the the programming. Um, I obviously, you know, we wouldn't we wouldn't change anything, you know,
without communicating with the group, but I just and I and I I don't want, you know, Cindy, I know you're you're I don't I don't want to um, you know, I just I just want to have our programs be something that I can confidently stand behind. And it's just been something
that's been and it's probably from my background in food service is that I'm like hyper aware of those type of things. And obviously, you know, even if there's never been any incidents, you know, I I'm a worrier. You know, there's always things that
could potentially happen. And I'll be honest, you know, I've mentioned it to you all before. The increase of programs has been quite a lot on my plate. Um, right. So that's that's the thing. You take on too much. You feel think everything needs to fall underneath you. This is a program that people are just
bringing food in, eating it here, talking about it, and taking it out. I realize you have to get the cookbooks and things like that, but this is not something that has to just be totally on your shoulders. Exactly. And which is which is why I haven't been coming to the meetings. Um
because there really is no need for me to come in. They kind of run themselves. They take they clean up afterwards. I come in the next day. room was nice and neat, you know, but then it's just the issue of, you know, last time we had a couple people show up um that didn't register, so I didn't know if they had
waivers. They hadn't told me they were coming. I didn't know if they were new people or not. My staff said they didn't recognize them, so I had two people who didn't sign a waiver. So, you know, is there a person in the
cookbook club that's like in charge? Not really. Yeah, somebody needs to be dedicated as the inar needs to be somebody who can kind of handle it and and run it. Um, and then just say, "Listen, this is our club. We meet at the library and fill out the proper
paperwork and then it's on them." Yeah. And they're responsible to recognize any new members and get them to sign the proper paperwork. See, I don't say anything because my wife likes it. Well, yeah. Yeah. There's very
group of people that do that do like it, which is why it's it's kind of something that's been weighing on me. It's for several years as to whether or not, you know, it's it's it's not something that I would have felt comfortable starting if it was me, but it was something that was already pre-existing and I know
people had loved it and they wanted to continue. And I want to do that for our community. I'm I'm I love this community. I love our patrons. I want to do things that they love. was the prior library director used to be part of that. Yeah, she started she started it.
Yeah. [Music] Um yeah, I think we need to noodle that one till next month's meeting. Yeah, they have one more meeting in May and then we take a break. All of our recurring programs take a break during summer reading because it's just there's
there's way too many other big programs going on. So, they wouldn't be starting up again until potentially August. Um, but I've been trying to find some programs for the fall, like cooking style programs that we could potentially that would appeal to a wider audience,
but also kind of satisfy their need for the cooking program aspect of it. There's those people from Shrewberry was it or Sturbridge that had a herb the Stockbridge Farms people? No. Was it Stockbridge? I thought it was more like
Sturbridge or something. I know there's one called Stockbridge Farms, I think. But they when I reach didn't go out of business. Yeah. Did they really? I don't know if they went out of business or not, but I've heard that they weren't doing it any because that was standing room only. That was interesting. Which is those are the kind of things that I
want to bring in is I think that those type of things have a much wider appeal. And I'm really trying to take a look at our programming schedule and try to do quality over quantity because I think that's what we've been falling into the trap of. I mean, if you look at our May
calendar, there is so much going on because we're just getting a lot of requests from local people, local groups who want to do stuff and, you know, we want to make it happen, but we only have so much time in the day. So, motion to adjurnn soon.
Yes, Michael. Yes, Cindy. Yes, Andrea. Yes, Jen. Yes, Tammy. Yes, Tracy. Good night to those of you. Good night, everybody. Good night. Night.