Stowe Free Library

Minutes Stowe Free Library Board of Trustees

March 12, 2010

Present: Frits Momsen, Jo Sabel Courtney,  Dick Johannesen, Stephanie Chase (SC), Trisha Fong, Phyllis Thibault, Dee Reever new Friends president-elect, introduced by Dick

 Minutes- of the February meeting were unanimously approved

Director's Report - Time was spent discussing statistics gleaned from our website.  Dick had asked to see data regarding # of hits.  SC remarked that since many people use our site as a link to other pages, true data is difficult to analyze.  SC also has begun presenting monthly stats to the board via calendar year comparison, instead of fiscal year, which we liked.  The rear lobby has been repainted.  Phyllis asked about the sale of PShift our internet provider, to Sovernet, if we can expect better or worse DSL service.  We are in the middle of a pre-paid year deal arranged with PShift so we will have until June to analyze the service of the new provider.

Friends Report - The Friends Annual Meeting will be on May 6,  which will include election of officers, the Book sale opening July 8^th, needs volunteers, especially for daily duties.

Space Needs - a small group will meet with Tom O'Brien 3/15 at the Library.  The new Town Safety complex will have a large meeting room, so we discussed that space taking up some of the use ours gets, in the event we will  need to use the library room for full-time library space.

HDAC Meeting - Dick met with HDAC board chair Shap Smith, who would prefer to see conflicts resolved between Nathan and Stephanie at that level. Stephanie and Nathan  may start with a memorandum of understanding.

The Micro-film reader being stored in our basement will be loaned to the Historical Society when their new building is complete, since they use it. 

Our Front Walk needs repair after being excavated for a water line put in last fall for the SHS building project.  Charles is getting input from contractors.  Vehicle  traffic should ideally be kept off of it.

LRP Projects for 2010 -  we reviewed a list of action points SC had created.  A firm volunteer policy needs to be developed by a committee which Phyllis will head up this spring.  Another committee will be formed to recruit interested parties to help with our annual survey, with the hope some of these new volunteers may wish to become members at large. Other ideas were tossed around for future exploration, such as a summer intern ( unpaid but with tourist incentives?)

   By-Law Revision - Dick, Frits, and SC will work out the final revisions and send them out for board review before our next meeting.

General Discussion - focus was on how to make our meetings efficient.  Frits commented that the major issue is we need to stick to our agenda and leave time at the end for open ideas.  The chair needs to keep the agenda moving and on point.  Jo brought up a Rural Grant loan available at low rates for capital improvements, wondering if the town could use such a vehicle to finish our projects.  She will send the info to Charles.   In addition Dick, Jo and  Stephanie plan to attend the state town Officers Education Conference in Fairlee on April 13^th.

Meeting adjourned at 10:30.  Next meeting will be April 9 at 8:30 AM at the Akeley Building meeting room.

Respectfully submitted,

Phyllis Thibault, board member