1999-01-26 City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Library Trustees
Subcommittee:
Date: January 26, 1999
Place: Beverly Public Library
Board members present: Diane Costa, Edward Brindle, Katherine Fanning, Margaret Goodwin,
Neil Olson, Kevin O'Reilly, Helga Senko, and John Young
Board members absent: Lindsay Diehl
Others present: Thomas Scully, Anna Langstaff, Joanne Panunzio
Recorder: Anna Langstaff
Diane Costa presided.
Neil Olson made the motion, seconded by Kay Fanning, to accept the minutes of the Long Range
Planning Committee of December 15, 1998 as read. Motion passed.
Neil Olson made the motion, seconded by Kay Fanning, to accept the minutes of the regular
meeting of December 15, 1998 as read. Motion passed.
Neil Olson made the motion, seconded by Edward Brindle, to accept the minutes of the Finance
Committee of January 12, 1999 as read. Motion passed.
Public Presentation
None
Committee Reports
Personnel: No report.
Administration: 1 ) John Young reported on the meeting held with Wendy Drinkwater, Marie
McGinnis, and Tim Marton at the Farms Library to discuss the proposed skating rink. Tom
Scully reported on the meeting held with Mayor Scanlon to discuss the proposed skating rink.
The city will build and maintain the rink and therefore the rink will be covered by the city's
insurance policy. The fire department will flood the rink. Neighbors have been contacted. 2)
Farms fund raising will begin in earnest in February.
Finance: Edward Brindle reported on the Finance Committee meeting held on January 12, 1999.
Finance Committee voted to present the FY2000 budget as outlined by the Director to the full
Board.
Report of the Library Director
1) Copies of the Library Director's report (on file with these minutes) were mailed to trustees. 2)
Tom Scully distributed copies of the MBLC's letter urging support for MBLC's legislative and
budget priorities.
Communications
1 ) State Aid: Diane Costa received notification from the MBLC that the Beverly Public Library
will receive $37,197.54 in state aid. 2) MLTA: Diane Costa highlighted articles from MLTA
newsletter.
Unfinished Business
1 ) Farms Skating Rink: There was a discussion of the proposed ice skating rink. Neil Olson
made the motion:
that the Board of Trustees agree to the protected ice skating rink on the Farms
Library lawn for Winter 1999. This approval is contingent upon the stipulations
presented to the Board by the Beverly Farms Improvement Society via the
Mayor's office on January 26, 1999 as follows: provided the grounds be returned
to the original condition in which they were originally found. Motion withdrawn.
Kevin O'Reilly made the motion, seconded by Edward Brindle, to:
agree to the protected use of an ice skating rink on the Farms Library lawn for the
Winter of 1999 based on the understanding that the city will build, maintain, and
remove rink and assume responsibility for insurance and that the grounds will be
returned to their original state in which they were found. Motion passed
unanimously.
New Business
1 ) Joan Nelson's Retirement: Trustees will send Joan Nelson a plant and a letter congratulating
her on her retirement. 2) Bookmobile: 40th anniversary of start ofbookmobile service coming up
this fall. 3) Budget: Edward Brindle presented Finance Committee's proposed FY2000 budget.
John Young made the motion, seconded by Helga Senko, to:
accept the Finance Committee's recommended budget of $1,122, 116.89 for
FY2000. Motion passed.
4) Margaret Goodwin: Edward Brindle congratulated and praised Margaret Goodwin for her
long-term service on the Board of Trustees. 5) Election of Officers: A new slate of officers will
be elected at the February meeting.
Public Presentation
None
The next meeting of the Board will be Tuesday, February 23, 1999 at 7:00 P.M. at the Main
Library.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 P.M.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR'S REPORT
January 26, 1999
Personnel - Joan Nelson who has served as a Senior Library Assistant on the Circulation
Desk will be retired as of Friday, January 22"d. She will continue to work part time doing book
mending. Elaine Van de Bogerr, who has been a part time Senior Library Assistant will take over
Joan' s duties full time and Suzanne Clerkin who is now working part time in the Technical Services
department will move to the Circulation Desk part time to fill Elaine's schedule.
Farms Building Program - The Fund Raising Committee has been working on a fund
raising brochure, and a list of naming opportunities. The Committee has met to review the list of
potential major donors and will begin the fund raising solicitations in eamest by early February.
The Committee met with Patience Jackson, the Library Building Consultant from the
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. She explained that because of the backlog of
building projects already on the State waiting list for funding, the Farms project would not see any
State money for 10 years. She felt that the Farms project could not wait for 10 years and she was
particularly concerned that the book stack wing in the rear of the building was a serious fire hazard
because of the lack of fire stops between the floors. She also suggested we consider some kind of
angled parking on Vine Street in front of the Library. She was impressed with the plans for the
library renovation, but noted that the stack room and bathrooms in the basement would raise some
security and supervision issues.
I met with John Dunn, the City Finance Director, to discuss funding scenarios. We discussed
the possibility of using some of the fund raising money for a permanent maintenance and operational
endowment for the Farms. He is going to ask the Mayor to include the Farms project in his next
Capital Improvements Plan which will be sent to the City Council in a few weeks.
Farms Skating Rink - I met with the Mayor, Marshall Handly, City Solicitor, Michael
O'Brien, the City's insurer, and Marie McGinnis and Wendy Drinkwater of the Beverly Farms
Improvement Association. The Mayor would like to see the skating rinks at the Library and Dix
Park built this year. He has agreed to have the City Department of Public Services build and
maintain the rinks which solves the insurance issue. I also touched base with the Fire Chief. He
is agreeable to having the firefighters at the West Street Station flood the rink and also he has no
objection to the public using the fire station rest rooms.
Bookmobile - October 1999 will be the 40th anniversary of the start ofbookmobile service.
I would like to plan some sort of celebration to give the bookmobile service some public visibility.
The Friends of the Library are interested in helping with the activities.