all right I'm calling the meeting to order at 6 pm and um we're looking at the June 12th 2024 minutes if you would does anybody have anything they'd like to say about them did you all get them the in the original um email from Cindy or did you get them today because I I got them today yeah yeah today yeah I didn't get my I am so sorry about that I did them Saturday night here at home on my laptop my cat was helping me and I that's what I get for doing them from 7 to 9 o'clock I wonder why I got them well I got them oh Ginger got them too okay I did yeah it's just women are efficient I do have one question them yes George and the question is uh since I wasn't there I want to know what Happ at the very end of the minutes it says meeting a joury at 6:41 p.m. and then Bob Smith asked for motion to adjourn and then meeting adjourned at 6:58 p.m. so it adjourned twice and there's 17 minutes unaccounted for oh my goodness um so what I think happened was the meeting actually did adjourn at 658 I think the um I'll have to go back to review the recording and correct this well you know I do remember that what happened I believe Ginger at that point oh yes asked about whether we should begin meeting in a hybrid fashion so we kind of for a few minutes my fault no it's not your fault well as long as you weren't all talking about me behind my back during those minutes can everybody see me or am I just that's the thing let me try ah can you see me no you're just a dis voice I this is awful let me go to the bottom again because I said and now it's not going to open up well if I don't make it this time yeah I have I have a black square with a little head in it that's white and I said that's that's not me but I guess I'm for whatever oh wait here we go up here maybe I will get it now participants up shoot let's see nope that's just participants I don't know well I'll leave it and maybe you will see me um next time participants start video yes start video start video okay wait a minute if I can get it to come up again okay there I am there you are okay I have a few comments in a minute uh there's a discussion of the uh fire alarm pull boxes and how it says one sentence we're using the uh electrical project uh arpa funds and then the in the next sentence says we're using uh I forget some other some other account to pay for the funds uh I think we need to be specific there what we're doing it sounds like we're paying twice or or whatever I I think uh it should say that we're paying uh from the electrical Improvement project a remaining balance of what $995 and the remaining balance the remaining amount to pay for the uh fire pool boxes will come out of the uh I forget what account it says there we're using it I think we needed a distinction otherwise it sounds like we're I don't know paying for two accounts well we are paying two accounts but there's no no dollar figure this paper I want to the whole okay so that would be on this the um the paragraph that begins with Bob Clinger discussed the estimated receipt yeah okay um so I don't have that out in front of me here now but all right so the estimate for pull stations is 1846 there are funds it says there are funds still available from arpa funds to help cover the costs so Cindy we need to insert um how much um was left in those arp funds and we'll we'll put that figure as X number of dollars to be used from arpa funds and then I do not remember where we said we were going to get the rest with did we say out a state aid I believe that's where it's going to come from so I um so I'll change the sentence to there are $750 available in arpa funds from electrical upgrades to help cover the cost of installing the post stations the remaining balance will be paid out of state aid does that work Fred okay yes then then I think didn't we talk about other projects that were ongoing I think Bob cliner was was talking about them and we discussed what funds the dollar amounts and what funds would come from what accounts and and which Year's budget or or arpa funds or whatever I guess I don't see any of that discussion in the minutes Bob did didn't you talk about that at the last meeting right we talked about um hold on hi Bob sorry I'm running late everybody um let me get back to where did it go hold on uh there we are um well then the next one was um the estimate from Foster Ferrar to install a panic bar and I'm just reading from the minutes now right uh Panic bar on the fire exit in fire exit door in the basement Foster Ferrar will also replace the closers on the fire doors the retunda and the doter room funds are still available in the arpa funds for replacement of fire door to to cover the Panic bar estimate for this is 759 the estimate for new closers is blank so we need to fill that in that I think was uh I can go back and find it um um motion made to accept the estimate uh and then the roll call vote but didn't you also talk about the the brick work and then Mason masonry by Rich Cooper will be coming by on Monday to do chimney repairs repairs are being paid with arpa funds for chimney window repairs okay so talked about talked I mean talked about that talked a little bit about the sealant but at that point we didn't know because um it hadn't been voted on yet we hadn't we hadn't had the town meeting okay so from what I'm seeing um going back in hold on a second let me uh I can grab the estimate here real quick if my computer I don't think it likes traveling I've got the I've got it Bob okay and was around $1,200 I thought for the for closer it's loading um it was 75996787 the whole thing because remember there was I don't know where we put there's a service call in there that needs to be lumped into one of them right I received the invoices for these after the meeting so the invoice for the door closes was $1,199 and some 53 cents I believe and that's the one that they put the service call on to for the door closers okay so how much how much uh was left in the um fire door so the fire door fund we had $759 that bill was a little over $800 so $14 came out of um FY 24's maintenance budget to cover the difference for the Panic bar okay and then the closers that the closers came out of we paid for the closers out of State eight okay so that should be we need to put a figure in there for the closers okay [Music] 1,199 53 okay okay any so does that cover it 759 96 um it should reflect the 96 cents there up above one lineup and then 10 19953 okay so was actually less than the original estimate because we got rid of the um Peaks and right because they ke it to fit the library key okay does that work Fred yes that's fine with me yeah okay is there anything else about the minutes that we need to amend we now have to um Cindy what do we have to do we have to print the minutes out and you and I have to both sign them and then you have to do the printed copy to the no I can um I scan it and then send it over to town offices and that's part of the reason the format was different this month compared to previous months when I've been doing them is this is the format that all the other Town departments are using when they do their meeting minutes so that we're in compliance okay this is our our new meeting minute format okay so you will let me know when um the minutes are ready for my signature yes I I will okay and then I can scoot up there uh okay is there anything else you'd like to talk about in terms of the minutes no can I just ask the question of we will get a a a um a new copy I can send any [Music] copy how about if we um when you when we've signed it and you are are ready to to um send it to the town office send everybody a copy okay and that that way you'll have the official copy if you so desire okay all right all right so now um I need a motion to accept the minutes of June 12th as amended I'll make a motion there's a second okay so it's any final discussion if not we'll proceed to a vote Deborah yes accept Ginger yes accept George yes Fred yes Bob yes okay so they are accepted as amended thank you Cindy and now you're welcome now uh we're on to financial report Bob I know that's been problematic so nothing new uh nothing new for my end no okay okay and um well we're just beginning the new uh fiscal year anyway so that um we're starting with a fresh slate Cindy does have uh news about how much was left in the budget and we've encumbered it which was 1300 something yeah I think it was say 13 1,383 or so now when when you went to encumber it you had to uh encumber it to something yes yes so I encumbered it to two different vendors because I have not um received the invoice yet from gon for when they came out to do the lift inspection which is $1,200 and I'm also waiting for an invoice from fire Technologies Incorporated because it's going to be a service call for having their technician come out the day of the lift inspection oh and Pete our new time administrator is joining us so I encumbered it to the two um 1,200 for the gante invoice and the remaining balance to go towards our um invoice from fire Technologies and as long as it even if the invoice is um as long as the funds are incumbered they'll be paid every aboutway 24 okay and you've Inc you've done the encumbrance before the deadline which was the 15th correct I passed it in today excellent okay does that satisfy everyone in terms of that I think it's pretty good with a80 plus thousand budget that we um managed to get that close to zeroing it out that's uh those two invoices will Zero us out so unfortunately there's no additional funds to encumber to purchase yeah anything additional well we're already in the new fiscal year so that we yes yeah Bob well I just wanted to say thanks to Cindy for handling that um and getting us through the end of the year I was hoping to play more of a role in that um I will be back sometime around the end of the month and if Jim is feeling well enough I will get with him and I will get with Cindy and I will get with um Dar is her name right yeah yeah and and I will um begin to update Jim's spreadsheets and get that back happening again my plan is with the August you know next month's trustees meeting so okay that sounds good thanks Bob um direct director's report you're on S thank you Mr chair was there was there another question I'm sorry I have a quick question we're talking about the finance report is is is the responsibility I guess is to the of that Finance report and tracking it is the trustees or is it our library director who's responsible for tracking the finances for the library according it's my understanding that Cindy is in charge of of um maintaining the budget um but Jim always did a report to keep us um because if you look at d dar's report it's pages and pages and pages and lines and lines and lines and lines and lines and you really have to fish to find what you're looking for and Jim used to just summarize it so we knew clearly um where we were with all of our um special funds where we were with each of our um line items and I appreciated that Clarity so I guess that that was something that Jim did uh extra and um we all liked it and I was hoping that we could somehow continue it after Jim left the trustees but does does the director do the same thing or can she do the same thing I have been doing the same thing I have my Excel I have an Excel spreadsheet my myself so for example today when I did the FY 25 I went in and subtracted out the expenses that I submitted today for payroll and the invoices I had to come through for collection development and maintenance and so I keep track myself on an Excel spreadsheet and I always reconcile it with daras when she sends hers out so if you're already doing that I guess then maybe my question is why is Bob gonna do it or why does Bob need to do it is he going to tell us anything different other than Jim like to do it so I don't know are we duplicating effort I think there's some duplication um I don't mind having a double check and it's no comment on Cindy to me it's just two sets of eyes looking at the same thing if we end up with the same numbers I think 's a lot of confidence in that if we don't end up with the same numbers and and I what I am hesitant to do is ask Cindy to do one more thing and take that and put it into a spreadsheet different from what she's already using now I don't want to speak for you Cindy but by the same token I'm in conversation conversations I've had previously with Jim it sounded like it was about 15 minutes 15 to 30 minutes for him once you know where to look for dar's stuff and you get it into the format that he had so if that's what it entails I'm happy to do that and then that can be as long as it ties out with what Cindy has then we have sort of a duplicate set of and if somebody comes back and says well what were the books it's easy to just pull from the trustee spreadsheet and say here this is this is what we were working off of this was you know running concurrently with what the director had and it it was basically the same set of books so it does that make sense am I am I do work I I as a non-s savy financial not knowing much about finances I've always been very grateful in my brief time on the board to get Jim's and also yours sort of translation of what's what the bottom line is and what we should really be thinking about looking about what's in I'm grateful to and the other the other piece of what Jim's covered that that I I don't know if Cindy I think Cindy needs to be aware of it but I don't know that she needs to track it is all that whole second sheet of the special funds and the different accounts that we can draw from that are we are Trustees of right it's not that Cindy doesn't need to know yeah it's not that Cindy doesn't need to know you know doesn't she needs to know about those but I think those are ours especially that second sheet is is what we're entrusted to do look after the library and as part of that the finances I agree I'd like to see I'd like to see it continue that's just my okay I just raising a question to make us work Fred I thought the same question myself because I I would rather not make work if I don't have to do one more thing but I'm happy to do it and and once I'm back I'm happy to go check on Jim I hope he's I don't want to gossip while we're recording but I hope he's doing so okay continue yeah Jim was at the town meeting um good with Katie so and he stayed through the whole thing so good okay uh and now we're on to director's report all right thank you Mr chair I did invite Pete Kane our new Town Administrator to join us tonight just so he could introduce himself to everyone and just sit in on the meeting so thank you for joining us Pete um a few things that did come up um today MLS came and we did the accessibility project video recording how' that go it went really well um they asked good questions and good follow followup and they were really interested in the building and took some really good pictures and they're going to let me know when it's available to preview and then where they're going to post it and then I have a funding request and I don't know if you want me to ask of that now or wait till new business Cindy how about if you just take a minute to to inform the board of um the visitor that we had a couple weeks ago who did we have a couple weeks ago to visit uh someone who uh left uh advice for us in terms of compliance with Ada oh yes yes about that as a group that is true I I okay so this would have happened I was at the library I and Carol was working and this was a random Patron first time visiting the waight public library she started walking around she started asking Carol questions such as where's the bathroom and Carol says oh it's downstairs and she try tried to engage Carol in a conversation with oh well really should be upstairs and Carol's like well we have our lift right here to use so she finished turning around the library and then I came upstairs I I don't know if this was the same day that we had our community input meeting so I was downstairs or I was anyways I came up from downstairs from whatever I was doing downstairs and she she came back to the desk as she was getting ready to leave and Carol happened to mention oh our Cindy who's our director she's here so I went out to the desk and she introduced herself as Betsy and she the way she represented herself to me felt as it was a misrepresentation that she was actually an agent working through the Commonwealth in Massachusetts office of disability the 510 um compliances to make sure we were ADA Compliant so she gave me um I gave her a tour of how the lift worked and where the bathrooms were and then she said oh you're really good however she went on to tell us that the lift is not in compliance because we don't have bars that go from where the railing of the lift ends across that section of the stairs to where the first black railing is for the like I I didn't I said I'm sorry I didn't you know I didn't know have any information to give her at the time I said I would pass the information on to my Board of Trustees she sent a lengthy email that I then forwarded to Bob and I did my own research and found out that she's not an actual representative of any Commonwealth of Massachusetts Agency on any ADA compliance issues she's a random Patron who lives in Turner Falls who goes into Carnegie Library a lot about their accessibility she I through during my research I also found out that she every two weeks is also emailing the office of compliance in Greenfield about the Greenfield Public Library the brand new multi you know expensive ADA Compliant greenfi public library because she doesn't feel that it's a perfect ADA Compliant building but you're never going to get a perfect ADA Compliant building and so that was our visitor and I just when I looked at it and spoke with Cindy um my opinion uh and Pete if you're listening you can uh chime in on it is that we have a certificate of occupancy we have an inspection each year by the building inspector we have passed with flying colors all the time um therefore I believe we are in compliance and um I don't know what else to say Bob the only other suggestion I had um to Bob and to Cindy was um we're really not in a position to say much if there's an issue this needs to be raised with the building inspector correct that's the person we deal with that's the person who understands the codes that's who the person who directs us what we need to do uh as Bob mentioned we have a certificate of occupancy which allows us and patrons to be in the building um if there's an issue so I I talked to Cindy about if there's an issue in the future um this person we appreciate their input and we can discuss their concerns um but their input really needs to directed to the Franklin County Regional Council of government right Perman agency up in Greenfield and I don't I don't mean to minimize you know the perhaps the goodness of of her intentions etc etc it it's just that I suppose anyone could walk in and say you need to do this and you need to do that um as long as we have the co and as long as we have um the building inspectors um visit each year and we are compliant um we need to hear from him and his office um if we're not in compliance I agree 100% but also this woman misrepresented her credentials she didn't have any credentials she had no she implied credentials implied that's how it came across that she was a representative of the Massachusetts you know dis uh disability representing yes okay well I mean The Bobs are absolutely correct we deal with this on on the zoning board all the time she could have been welcomed to the library and told to contact the building inspector I have not heard back from her but if she does respond back I will say here's the contact information for the building inspector there your next step in the Franklin County yep process okay I just want wanted you all to be informed that that hadn't occurred wow yeah yeah go ahead Cindy okay so then I have a funding request and I don't know if you want me to ask that of you now or wait till we get to new business that should probably be new business okay and then um we had the lift inspection done on the 26th of June and I was not aware until the building inspector got there and the service technician from gavant that we also needed to have the representative from the fire Technologies be there because there's a fire alarm in the shaft and he has to be in front of the building inspector with his plunger set off the alarm so that the building inspector knows it works so you you'll need to um add that into our budget it's already oh into the budget okay the budget for the future I thought you were gonna say the building book because it's already there no but um we need to have that included in we weren't aware that that we were supposed to have I I was totally shocked when they asked me where the tech was I'm like what do you mean where is the technician they just came and did their inspection oh no he needs to be here to set off this one up here in the the lift shaft with his plunger thing okay device okay all right that's all I have thank you Mr chair all right the circulation numbers look really good hey do we actually on Monday we had um an drop in play group so our numbers are going to look good in July to and people are coming in and using the library especially in these really hot days especially the children's room and the books are going out in Stacks that's great that's very good great yeah and I just wanted to um to give kudos to my former student and former colleague Tim guy from Frontier Regional who came in on Saturday the 22nd and did a really wonderful presentation on juneth um right uh there were four of us there and it was really really good um I was really of course I'm proud of him but um he did a really nice job I was I told him that we should make him our resident historian and I learned things that I didn't know about either y great PowerPoint and uh some wonderful handouts and uh just a really good background um that he has because he's um really quite a quite a good teacher so I just wanted to put a plugin for Tim to congratulate him Cindy did you want to talk about the the the review of the of the survey oh yes George Deborah and I met and went over our strategic plan surveys and I did mail out so all of you could see the responses which for the most part are very positive um as you can see from the responses that most of our or pretty much 90% of our patients are feel comfortable and welcoming welcome when coming to the library and that they're you know use it several times a month um Cindy you email those results I didn't get those I didn't get I I thought I mailed them I'm sorry I thought I mailed them out on Monday no email Cindy email on Monday I definitely didn't get that okay I am so sorry I will email them to all of you after the meeting um but overall the results were pretty good very positive responses um if patrons responded why they didn't use our library it's because maybe it's closer to where they work or they have children that go to school in a different town um but there mostly are using local libraries such as Tilton Forbes me Sundin um um uh three responders said they don't use the library because they're not big readers and then programming um live music receiv received the most responses author Nature and Science physics were tied for 31 arts and crafts came in third at 30 um readings came in for 29 yoga exercise 18 um eight respond eight um people responded they'd like to see some type of technology program and for number five the response that received the most answers was more open hours for 28 responses um and a library of things received 21 responses so that was our second um Improvement or program that respondents would like to see uh 10 patrons would like to see a more Diversified collection inless of the Daniel Steels and the um Daniel Steels and the ill and Hiller Brands and the other romancy type novels um and then I realized that there's a marketing opportunity in here because eight patients responded around more downloadable materials so there's an opportunity to get the word out about Libby and that with your CW Mars card you can access Li liby which then allows you to download any book throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts any audio book if it's available any periodical and you're not just limited to CW Mars it's all of the libraries in Massachusetts so that's going to be something that I'm gonna come up with to like send out in our August newsletter just a little did you know and put in the information about Libby as a downloadable option maybe also you and I talked the other day about um maybe uh on one of the evenings that we're open we should have a sort of a drop in how to use how to use the libraries Technologies yeah and yeah we yes that might that was one of the things that patrons would like to see um more collaboration with the such as the historical society and Valley neighbors and as Deborah George and I were talking that can just easily be crossposting of events if Valley neighbors is having something we can offer to host it at the library we can also promote it at the library to let people you know patrons know it's happening and that can be a way to start our collaboration um genealogy more nature arts and crafts programs seem to be the answer for both Adult and Children's programming um senior programming again the how to use technology and again some of it is just if Valley neighbors is doing something we can help co-host by having it at the library or just cross um promotion of it so all in all the surveys turned out we got 69 Al together and they weren't so bad and it does give direction um for putting um sentences into various spots in the um document to address those concerns and over the over the next five years how we will develop better use of the techn better uh townwide knowledge of or Patron knowledge of our available Technologies etc etc yes and I am so sorry because I I remember typing all these up and I thought I pressed send email but I must have imagined doing that it's the heat Cindy it's the heat yeah I'm so sorry my brain is also another year older too so um are there any questions for Cindy for her director's yeah Bob um if I may slide this in real quick on the maintenance side Cindy how are the Mini Splits holding up with the air conditioning load I had to oh that's the other thing Rich strong I I'm sure I did put that in my director support Rich strong has merged with um another company as a and so I had to call them today because one of the units is leaking and I'm waiting to hear back from them of when they can come out and find out it could simply be that because they're working over time because of all the heat that something's backed up somewhere and they just need to come in and drain it and fles out the lines is there uh are you collecting that leakage in a bucket or something yes and I'm not sure which unit it was so I since we're not going to be there we turned it up a little bit um it's still going to work but it's just not going to be as cool as if people were in the building okay okay anything else for for servicing to minisplits the parish oil company does that very very well I've used them my own for my own house they'll come out within a day or two you don't have to wait for weeks to get a response if they're coming out to do other service work well they know what a building and they live in town so but don't but we have a service contract with Rich strong correct well let me let me say that I don't know what you call service contract I've talked to Rich strong uh and some of his staff six or nine months ago when we were talking I don't know about the incentives that were available to upgrade Mini Splits the service contract is every year it's nothing that's that's uh tied to the to the installation original installation of the Min splits is every year there's a service that you contract with him to do you can contract that to do with car oil or anybody you're not committed you're not tied to Rich strong and they're not giving you something that's part of the warranty it's just an extra service so I I guess I have a difficult time understanding it's part of the contract would be strong when my knowledge it is not it's an extra service that we're Contracting with them to do that anybody can do okay but there is something to be said Rich knows Rich's company knows our system uh and has been responsive all the time when we've had problems um I think that's worth something in the Modern Age okay well I bet others who be responsive too whether they install the system or not they whatever okay so noted okay anything else all right so uh fire system upgrade update do we know anything yet about the installation of [Music] the pool stations yeah um what we know is I've sent out two emails letting them know uh that the funds have been approved and I have not heard anything back and I don't think you have either Cindy Noone I haven't gotten anything that is correct yeah so I will I will ping them again by email and maybe give them a call okay and and just keep pushing them to get this done okay uh Panic bar door closers um update the update is that it's done and I submitted them on the final fy2 24 I submitted the Bill schedules to get those invoices paid today yeah now the one little one little update um the Panic bar on the basement door is all set um the closers on the upstairs two doors and the downstairs D the downstairs going into the Dole room um I looked at trying to get them to close a little more tightly a little more securely uh I believe the edging on those doors is metal I believe it's a metal band on an old heavy wood door um I'm I'm I'm I'm leery of my skills taking those doors off and being able to make them better um that ought to be if what I want to do is when I'm back in Mass um make an appointment with JP and just have him come and take a look uh and let me know what he thinks they are closing they are certainly closing much better than they did previously is it perfect no but given the age and condition of those basement doors and the upstairs doors especially the one door has a little twist I don't think we're ever going to get them perfect in addition the weather has not been on our side no so it hum I I I I I don't want to say it's acceptable because I'm I'm not 100% familiar with what acceptable for a 75y old building um for these kind of doors I want JP's opinion but I'll get that when I get back before the next meeting um I appreciate that yeah and I personally I think this project is is done okay unless he looks at it we I'll rely on him but uh it's going to be a lot to pull those doors off and shave them and adjust and especially the upstairs doors because the one is your walking in the one on the right has a really good twist and it's never going to close solid the top is closed the top is closed and there's almost a half inch at the bottom you'd have to completely rebuild that door so but I'll get his I'll get his opinion get his thoughts that's a that's a great idea thanks for doing that Bob okay strategic Plan update you just gave it to us so yes and when Oscar was there today to help assist with the filming for the accessibility project we sat down and went over over and came up with an outline that I just have to type up and I can get that to you by next week okay okay and then we move on to updates on various repair projects we do have some interesting news Bob in terms of the Mason yes so rich Cooper when I reached out to him um they are going to come on uh 729 so this month still they can take the downspouts down they don't think that's going to be a big deal they will take the down spouts down they will get them someplace um safe I am waiting for a call back or an email back from Bob holla about repainting um my plan and I'd like to put this forward I've talked with uh Bob about this I'd like to put it forward to the rest of the trustees uh if we're doing what's going to happen is all the exterior bricks any of little cracks is going to be replaced and then the Mason is going to seal all the exterior bricks um it is a sealant that meets the historical commission's requirements uh it meets the the uh Department of interior uh requirements for being in a historic district so we're all up to speed there um if we're doing that work to me it would make sense we already have to take the down spouts off to expose all the brick I think we should then take the gutters off paint all the white trim paint everything that hasn't been painted on the library including the columns out front the Portico um I that's my feeling let's get it done um call we have an estimate from um I think it's gutter filter that Larry Ashman had a really good uh experience with I was going to go check with Keith Bardwell before we we actually committed to them um but get all the bricks repaired get everything sealed get everything painted get good gutters up with some type of leaf guard filter whatever we end up using down spouts and then pretty much the exterior of the building is done they save the roof the flat roof in the back right and I've already and you know that I've already submitted the estimate to the CPC but Allan told me that we won't be would not be able to be funded until the next um annual town meeting and I reached out to the the roofer that gave us that estimate and have not heard back from him um I just think it's crazy time for them right now I the question I asked when I reached out was um he was up there he looked at it is this something that has to happen this year or does he think we can wait okay so okay so in terms of the um the brick sealer um the town meeting passed um the money for that um the uh Brick Repair is $3,575 so we would need tonight to vote um that to proceed and um where to fund it from my suggestion is state aid um because state a gets replenished uh not it won't get fully replenished but um at this point Cindy we had something like 12 Grand in there right yes give or take a few dollars okay so um if if that meets with your all approval um that estimate was $3,575 from um Rich Cooper and I'd like to pay that from state aid if I could have a motion and then we can discuss it um is is there a motion to do that yes motion to do that okay Bob moves and George seconds um is there any discussion so any alternatives that we should be discussing Bob in terms of where to get that that money from or is that the sure I mean um there we could take it out of Maintenance we have $6,600 in the the new budget um but of course that means we would have 2 something left and that's not going to change um if we take it out of state aid we're going to get state aid uh how often do we get that Cindy we get X number of dollars they split it in half so we get one half in the fall and then another half again in the spring so I just thought that that was a a sensible way to do it I'd rather avoid using we do have a um is it a Dickinson fund or um we have two Dickinson funds the Dickinson maintenance fund and the Dickinson Expendable fund where we can spend the interest off of those and I believe it's the Dickinson maintenance fund there's about $113,000 in right but again that's that's that is once you spend it it's gone yeah except the whatever interest would acre future that's the interest that we've earned from the original the from the Principal Bob okay I I want to put this forward and I apologize guys um for not having a chance to get this to all the other trustees um but what I've done is I've put together a list of everything that would be considered maintenance it's a large Excel spreadsheet um I have not I've updated a little bit but I have not kept it current um I can do that once I'm back in massachus it's the end of this month I'm not sure I'll be able to get it done for the August board meeting um but I should be able to do it for September but if you look at it um if we do what we've been doing a ton of Maintenance work I agree yep we are almost done barring something unforeseen happening um which we won't know anyway but it's not like it's not like we have additional items once we're done with the sealant the painting the gutters and the roof that flat roof over the retunda once we're done with that correct me if I'm wrong anybody but the the maintenance the only other item that would even be a yellow is the ramp the wheelchair ramp and that simply comes from some deterioration some deterioration not a ton but some deterioration of the posts supporting it but that is not an item that has to be done this year that is something that could be put off till next year or possibly the year after um what I'm trying to do is I'm I'm I'm trying to get as much stuff done um as I can right now and then we should uh as part of the whole spreadsheet then it becomes a maintenance issue and when are things going to come due again so for example the sealant will come due in 10 to 13 years depending on the weathering and everything else the new roof a new flat roof would be approximately 20 years you know things like that that we can then begin to go off of the spreadsheet and take a look and say okay going forward here's what we need the budget for here's what we here's what we need to hold on to money so that we'll have it next year here's what we can spend this year things like that so I'm I'm sorry I haven't been as ahead of that as I wanted to um but that's the direction I'm trying to go in or not trying that's the direction I'm going in it's just a question of how long it's taking me to get there do you so do you think we shouldn't take the 3575 out of state aid and we should take it out of Maintenance no I think we should take it out of state aid if we have it in state a if we have it in well and part of that is just having worked in other organizations where money is is segregated um my understanding is if we run into something where we need money we could shift it out of our maintenance fund yeah i' I'd rather yeah do that if we need the and if we find out we don't need it and we're getting close to the end of the fiscal year next year 11 you know 10 nine and a half 10 months from now and we need it over in a different area if we can move some of that money over to a different account if we have leftovers in maintenance then I I think that would be easier than moving state aid correct yeah yeah state aid I imagine has strings more strings than our maintenance budget the only requirement for state aid is you cannot use it as to say when we're preparing the budget we cannot make it part of our Municipal budget state aid is given to library directors to spend to cover any emergency anti any an anticipated cost that may have come up during the fiscal year or if you know you're going to overspend in your budget and you need to have things reclassified at the end of the fiscal year you can take it out of state aid you can use it to pay for um say you wanted to Pilot a program to see how additional hours would work it could be a funding source to pay for additional staff to help cover those additional hours the only thing we can't use it for is making it part of our annual Municipal budget okay Fred yeah so this work for seiling Bridges that's only the bricks is only for the brick work we're still going to have I would assume two separate contracts for one for painting and another one for gutters right and do we have some idea of the cost of that and is it within our budget somewhere and I assume we're going to try to do that before winter I would hope right um yes I think Bob's waiting to hear from Bob holla I'm waiting to hear from Bob holla on a painting estimate I already have the estimate for the gutters um if memory serves it was around $1,700 okay and that's for the that's for the leaf I always forget Leaf Guard leaf leaf hat yeah I I I forget what it was um Larry Ashman had very good experience with him and they came highly recommended by him um the guy the owner of the company was in town and gave us an estimate and I warned him that it may not happen for a year or so and he said that's fine I'll you know unless things change drastically this will be pretty close so for those of you that are new to the board Larry Ashman was a longtime member of the Board of Trustees um and he um has a love for the building um he's he's done an awful lot of things on his own um just because he saw that they needed to be done so when Larry speaks um we listen okay for all I just want to say thank you to The Bobs and Cindy for that those explanations which are very helpful about funding sources and going what's going forward and so forth okay um yep Ginger did do you want say I really think state aid is the way to go with this I I agree with that okay so we have a motion uh and it's been seconded to use $3,575 of state aid to pay for the masonry repair work that rich Cooper is going to begin on the 29th of July um if there's no further discussion we can proceed to a vote okay Deborah yes Ginger yes George yes Fred yes Bob yes and I vote Yes okay all right um I did have one other thing under other um and that is um I failed after the election to uh ask you if you wished to reorganize the leadership of the Board of Trustees which of course is your perfect right so I now give you that opportunity should you uh wish to uh nominate someone else to be the chair um no thank you no wish whatsoever okay no thank you we're so grateful for the great job you do Bob so it again I'll second the nomination okay so we won't reorganize we'll stay the way we are okay so under new business I put prioritizing repair schedules and we've kind of just talked about that Bob so I I think we all have an idea that we're g to we're getting close closer and closer to doing those projects that were really necessary um we'll see what happens with the roof um but is and Bob will have more information from Bob holla and and we'll be um keeping you a breast of all of that okay um and future programming if you look on Cindy's report um she had that there Cindy you want to say anything more about programming she and I talk often about other kinds of things um I I really wanted to I don't know exactly what the night sky looks like um in the back of the library at night I'm not sure that UMass or whatever doesn't light it up too much but I was thinking that it might be wonderful on some you know when there's some spectacular Celestial event to have an evening we could even uh get U maybe get a permit for a campfire afterwards and uh you know have some really nice evening out under the stars um great great I'll make sure tonight Steve's available to bring over the fire pit okay and and you could also involve sores which I understand has drawn great crowds to Library events whenever sores are there yes yes Cindy do we have a local resource that's a an expert in the sky I'm not sure I can reach out and find out okay I'm not an expert but I can speak from personal experience um in the summertime it's much better Star viewing when UMass is powered down considerably oh yeah yeah yeah so it's still bright and Northampton it competes with Northampton a bunch in the sky but it's nowhere near as bright as when the students are there and they got every light in the house on so yeah well when you're not having to pay your electric bill I guess it doesn't matter how many lights you have on well but technically you do pay your electric bill because other source of the other source of information may be Smith college has an observatory on the top of uh what's it popular Hill Road in the end uh maybe there's a person there that could on some kind of or whatever that would give us information I mean or in conjunction with their program there would you like to reach out to them Cindy and see what we can find out there can do that I put it on my list thank you we keep making your list longer and longer but that's a great idea Fred I can't give you a name Cindy oh oh that would be so helpful we have a Smith college connection oh yes I mean I don't have an a connection to the astronomy department but I know the name of the person who's in it oh that'd be great if you want to email me their contact information I will thank you so much sure okay so um you 30 we're taking a break from music for the summer but yesterday we hosted our first uh drop in family play group coordinated with the Union 38 family Network and we had a good turnout or this was Monday and we had a good turnout we had about 10 families join us and they some of them stayed afterwards and checked out books and just hung out and enjoyed the library um so that's going to be ongoing from Mondays in July and August and then on Monday we have uh the mass autoban Society is coming through uh the Acadia Wildlife portion of the MTH autobond Society is coming to do their terrific Turtles program so it's going to be an aadia Wildlife expert and they're going to bring P their box turtle with them you can look at the P the box turtle but you cannot pet the box turtle but they are bringing box turtle shells so there will be shells that you can pick up and touch and look at and they're going to read a couple of stories about box turtles and how they are in Massachusetts and how they're actually endangered here in Massachusetts and then there's going to be a little craft to go along with that and that's on Monday and there's been a lot of excitement about that a lot of parents are really excited cool so we are after all the town that you know is the home of the Ninja Turtles too that oh that's true I totally forgot about that Turtle to the event that yeah so that's on Monday at 1:30 for anyone who' like to stop by and meet the turtles okay and then I have three events scheduled in August and um we're already looking into the fall and I've already been discussing with a couple of uh presenters the possibility of if we were to write a would you be interested if we got a cultural Council Grant and coming and doing a few classes or workshops on you know um what the things that they're so cat now who came in June there's a positive response to her so I've already reached out to her to say you know if we were to collaborate together and your culture Council Grant would you be interested in doing a series of your programs spread out over you know two or three depending upon funding you know like one in the fall one in the spring so that I'm starting to work on fall programming that's great very good very good Cindy very good thank you is now when I asked for my funding request or do I wait to new business yeah uh no absolutely um because it's future programming yes so I reached that I was asked to reach out to the Friends group first regarding funding for programming I reached out to the Friends group a while ago regarding Monday's program hoping to have had an answer yes or no runi have not received an answer so I'm hoping that I can use $168 from General donations to have Peta come the box turtle do you need a vote from us Cindy if it's okay with you guys I'm just gonna go ahead and do it I don't see anybody shaking their heads horizontally it's all vertical it's all vertical that's a good sign awesome okay okay is that it that was it and was there something I think that's it if think of anything else I'll let you know yeah and I think Cindy also you and I talked about um the possibility of expanding our purchase of passes to various oh that was the other yes that was the other thing I've reached out I've received response from two of the five places that I had on my list for passes so the exciting news is thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous donor and MNT bank for the remainder of this year it's free admission to the brbor art museum so they're GNA send me the necessary paperwork or whatever pass or whatever is needed so that we can add that one to our collection right so that's for the rest of this year you can your entire family can go up to brador to that Museum and get in for free in your next um blast out to the public public he should mention that we might have I I asked Cindy to look into what else did did we talked about the only other response I got today was magic wings and I'm not sure if that um so the way Magic Wings works is the past does not have an expiration date you purchase for $140 you purchase a 10 punch ticket but how it works is it's one punch per person so say Bob you and Mary wanted to take Nan one of you could get in on the punch the other one was paying admission for them the adults and for the child and it's good until all 10 punches are gone and it's $140 um so I don't know if that's something that we want to think about and consider we're about the only library in the area that currently does not have a magic wings pass can you only use one punch each time I mean could Bob and his wife do two punches or you just well they could go so if you so say you check the pass out and you go today it's one punch and then pay the price of two admissions if you go tomorrow another you then Mary Ellen can get the punch but then Bob then it's still two the price for two admissions okay is it something that you you think would have um oh we've gotten a lot of patrons asking if we have it and then being disappointed that we haven't because it's one of those ones where it's somewhat you know if it's available it's great in other libraries if it's already checked out then so okay do do you it never ends if once the 10 once the 10 pches are gone that card is done and then you would pay another $140 to renew it to get another punch card for 10 so it could be theoretically it could be something that's every two or three years depending upon how popular the butterfly museum is I tend to believe it would be more popular during vacation times when the children are home from school and caregivers are looking for something fun to do especially in the winter time when it's cold or on break from Camp like I go to Camp yeah or on break from Camp yeah I have I have a confession I've never been to Magic Wings oh I have been to well there you go to get the pass for you Bob you could be our first punch listen I did a conference uh for the Holocaust museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville and they have a butterfly museum and I actually went to that one but I've never been to the one up the street it's really it's it's a wonderful place and I agree I in the middle of winter would you would would would you like um us to give you permission to to purchase oh Cindy you're muted you're muted Bob and so is Bob yes you're muted Bob okay okay there we go he said the the host muted me sorry that was it's because you haven't visited the Deerfield magic no that was that was entirely on me that was nothing at all in about you Bob you mention you mentioned sort of a general donation fund how much is left in that what do we have in um that's about three we have a little over $3,000 in that account but it doesn't have to come from General donations this is because it's a museum pass it's something we could take the $140 out of the friends restricted donation we could take it out of state aid let's take it out of General donations okay M are we all okay on that buy the P absolutely bu the okay by the butterfly museum awesome I I may be the first one to use it I don't okay speaking of been back to the Smith college Conservatory Observatory whatever it's called do they have a a program for where they charge a fee to to do something there I I don't know Deborah if you know that I have no idea I know that the astronomy program often uses the UMass Observatory I didn't know Mich had something going on up there or is it just for students that or whatever that study it to go there maybe that's if you're looking to talk to that person or they have a program that well you're looking for somebody to come and give a talk right about the night sky yeah and so that you know that I'm not I I'm certain that somebody will know somebody who would do that I could think of a grad student I mean I think it's UMass that has the PHD program in astronomy and the other colleges use their facilities there are undergrad courses in all the colleges but I can I can give Cindy a name who can then give a name I I think it would be fantastic if Cindy doesn't mind looking into it um there's supposedly a comment that may appear this to the naked eye this fall oh cool well it's unknown yet until it gets a little closer to see how much of the tail is going to form and how visible it's going to be that's not the the disapp heing asteroid right the one that's that's crumbling as it comes closer and closer I don't think so this is a i this is a comment that they say I thought it was end of September October time frame that may may appear but they it's hard to say what it's gonna do okay all right so Cindy you got all kinds of of stuff you can hand out for free now um we're moving on to um Bob and I were just talking about about the the the our whatever we called it last year our our gathering after Thanksgiving and before holiday party and tree lighting right holiday party and tree lighting right and um we need to put that on our radar once again um I don't know uh if you wanted to pick a day for that um Sunday December 1st that's what I was looking at so Shall We Begin plans for Sunday December 1st and we will send out um I'll send an email to Sheila because I know that the friends used to be involved but hell or high water we're going to do this and we're going to light the holiday tree that day as well um if we don't have a friends group we're gonna we're gonna do it just like we did it last year okay yeah okay so we will um have more information for you about U the planning of that but I just wanted to put it on everybody's radar okay and the last thing I had was updates on M meeting minutes and I already told you that we have to sign them now and um just I guess that's um the policies so um we'll take care of all of that uh is there any other new business or any business what's the status of the flooring oh have not heard back good question let me check on that um so I will make I will add to my note to Rattle their cage as well okay okay is there any other new business if not I will um entertain a motion to actually adjourn at the time we say we're going to adjourn so there's no no nixonian question about not going to minutes okay is there a motion to adjourn okay is there a second second and I'm assuming that there are no people opposing to a journey we need to just say that our next meeting if we go by how we always do it second Wednesday is the 14th of August I can't stand that we're already in um I may not be here on that day but I won't know right away okay um okay thank you very much six o'clock as usual six o'clock as usual yeah okay yes thank you thank you all very much good night good night good night all right