New Berlin Library Board Meeting Minutes for March 28th 2018
In attendance: George Anderson, President Darla Smith, Vice President Donna Wells, Treasurer Angelica Schmidt, Secretary Julie Baltich, Trustee
Also in attendance: Michelle Priola
Director Start time: 6:00pm End Time: 6:44 pm
George Anderson calls the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.
January minutes: Donna Wells makes a motion to approve January minutes seconded by George Anderson approved 5-0.
Approving Bills: Bills for February and March are circulated and signed. George Anderson makes a motion to approve these bills seconded by Julie Baltich approved 5-0.
Treasurer’s Report: Donna Wells reviewed the balance sheet for February 2018 and the Profit and Loss Budget vs. Actual sheet for January 2018 through February 2018. We are currently within the Budget. No questions from Board. Donna Wells also updated the Board that Quickbooks was up and running on the upstairs computer.
Director’s Report: Michelle Priola updated the Board on the continuing success of the library based 4/H Cornell Cooperative Extension After School Program which will continue through the end of May as well as in the summer a few times before resuming next fall. Michelle also discussed a few ideas for improving the Summer Reading Program she discovered after attending the 4CLS meeting in Sidney on such. One of the ideas discussed was changing the format from number of books read to amount of time a child spent reading. This new format might encourage more children as it could be an achievable goal to encompass all reading levels. Board members in agreement of this idea. Michelle also discussed the schedules for this year’s spring tea which George Anderson will be providing music for and also let the Board know that garden basket supplies for the raffle basket fundraiser will need to be in by 5/5/18. She also mentioned that if NBL was planning to have a Yard Sale fundraiser for May 19th volunteers would be needed. The Board took this into consideration. Michelle discussed the Perkins Grant funded Hobby Boxes and Ukulele project with the Board, and gave the progress of these projects as being processed by 4CLS currently. Once 4CLS is finished incorporating their format into their system they should be available to our patrons. Michelle also passed around April Fundraising letter she wrote that goes out annually to our patrons and asked the Board to read for any changes they felt it needed. No changes were offered at this time. Michelle gave a progress update on Don Parry repairing the front porch in which he stated that he was waiting for better weather currently to do the job well. Michelle notified the Board of a recent situation involving excessive printing from patrons and the suggestion she received from 4CLS. She also handed out the ‘New Berlin Library Reference Policy’ giving patrons a clear guideline for printing limits, available to all patrons. Donna Wells made a motion to approve this policy effective April 1st 2018 seconded by Darla Smith, approved 5-0. Michelle also discussed the idea of placing an article in the newspaper concerning the tax levy increase requested by New Berlin Library on the school tax ballot. Discussion from Board members resulted in the decision that the multitude of services the library has to offer the community could be emphasized instead. Perkins Summer Concert series discussed. Michelle handed out flyers she created for each event. Board agreed that flyers were eye catching and appropriate to each event. Board also in agreement that providing sheet pizzas at some of these events would be a nice variety to refreshments provided in previous years. Michelle notified the Board of issues she was having with the upstairs computer desktop. She said for now she is in the process of backing up all data with a flash drive and will see if cleaning the computer will work to restore normal function to this computer and go from there. For further information refer to the written Director’s Report. Art Show: George Anderson discussed the idea of having a summer art show, consisting of a week in the summer where patrons could display their artwork in the community room. This would encompass all age ranges and would be take place from July 23rd-27th. Signed waivers for any damage to art as well as limits of artwork dimensions and amount per patron discussed. Michelle agreed to create the flyer and be the contact person for this event. Board in agreement.
Closing: Donna Wells made a motion to close the meeting seconded by Julie Baltich approved 5-0.