Present: Mary Farwell, Chair; Mac Broderick, acting
Secretary; Tammy Hooker; Barbara Davis, Treasurer; Heather
Shumway, Director.
Excused: Mary Leger.
Director's Report:
Fire Panel
The panel has been replaced and is in working order. The
cost of the replacement was $1400. The damage was due to an
electrical surge. The cause will be written on the invoice.
Heather will email Diane Savoie to inform her of the damage.
Tammy will contact Diane to determine if the Board should
consider filing an insurance claim.
Electrical
The library has experienced a number of electrical problems
in the recent weeks (fire panel, phone system, and elevator).
Heather will call PSNH to ask them to evaluate our electrical
system. Mac will call Barry at Little Angels to see if he has
experienced similar electrical issues.
Staffing
Cindy Emery resigned. Heather has requested that her
position be split into two positions in order to better handle
staffing schedules. Cindy has agreed to fill in as a
substitute as needed. Heather will post the job listing on the
library website and bulletin board, the NH library website, and
possibly via the library email distribution list.
Conference
Heather provided information on the conferences attended by
LeeAnn, Jeff, Mark and herself. The topics discussed included
grants, technology issues, and legal issues.
Future Director Reports
Heather has agreed to include the events (conferences,
committee work, meetings etc) for the next month in each
Director's report.
Continued Business from November 14, 2006
Boiler
We have three quotes for a new boiler ($17,000 - $26,000).
Doug St Pierre, as our consultant, has revised his estimate of
what he thinks the bids should be so that it is more in line
with the quotes we have in hand. His initial estimate was
lower due to incorrect information from his supplier. Doug St
Pierre believes that the bids submitted addressed a larger
project than needed. He will prepare a new RFP for the new
Boiler only and no additional equipment or service. The Board
agreed that John Karpinski should review the old bids and the
new RFP (Heather will forward the RFP from Doug to John) and
offer advice on the best course of action. If the new RFP is
submitted, John Karpinski will review those new bids and offer
the Board his advice.
Duct Cleaning
John Karpinski informed Mary Farwell that cleaning the
existing heating ducts is probably not necessary because the
coils, the main source of dust, have been removed. He said
that duct cleaning should occur on a schedule of every 5-10
years. The Board decided to not clean the ducts at this
time.
Elevator
Heather reported that the maintenance contract we have for
the elevator only covers regular maintenance and not problems.
She will review our contract to check the costs and to
determine if we need this service every other month. Heather
will report back to the Board.
End Caps
The Board reviewed the bids submitted for the installation
of the shelving end caps. The Board selected Tucker.
Heather will contact Tucker ASAP to inform them that their bid
was accepted. She will also get a full and complete listing of
the supplies and scope of the work to be completed. HS will
notify the board via email of expected delivery time
frame.
Payroll
In preparation for the change in payroll companies, Heather
will collect/produce benefits information, accrued time, and
W-4s. She will provide this information to Barbara Davis by
12/7/2006.
Goals:
The Board continued its discussion of goals and the role of
benchmarks in achieving the goals. The Board has expressed the
need to be able to present data to the town leadership and the
public as well as to help the Board it its evaluation of the
Director. Also short term goals or benchmarks can be used to
gauge progress to a much larger goal. Heather agreed to use
the increased percentage in circulation as a goal for next
year. The current increase in circulation over last year is
21%. The Board has asked Heather to meet or exceed that
increase again next year. The Board realizes that many factors
contribute to produce success in this critical area. A
quantifiable goal for increasing the email distribution list
was also discussed. The Board has asked that Heather increase
the email list by 20 people per month. This figure was
selected because it seems to be an achievable and realistic
expectation. That monthly figure will be included in the
monthly Library Director report and will be reviewed and
adjusted as we get additional information. Heather expressed
concern that attempts to achieve these quantifiable goals may
affect the environment of the library. She cited the example
of the front desk person continually asking a patron if they
would like to be on the distribution list. She thought that
this might annoy some patrons if the delivery is overly
aggressive. Members of the Board felt that the delivery need
not be overly aggressive and can be accomplished in a variety
of ways (putting the sign up sheet in a checked out book with
the receipt). The Board and Heather agreed to review our
list of goals to determine areas where benchmarks or numerical
goals would be useful. Heather will also invite the staff to
participate in developing these quantifiable goals.
Future Meetings:
The next meeting will be on December 12.
The retreat will be on Tuesday, January 23 at 4:00 pm.