Library Trustees Minutes Oct 24 2023.docx-2 City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Library Trustees
Subcommittee:
Date: October 24 2023, 5:00 P.M.
Place: Beverly Public Library, 32 Essex Street Beverly, MA
Board members present: Margaret Altman, Marshall Handly, Kevin O'Reilly, Joanne Panunzio,
Myron Schirer-Suter
Board members absent: Mary Behrle, Cathryn Keefe O'Hare, Ivy Mahan, Colleen Michaels
Others present: Allison Babin, Meghan Karasin
Recorder: Meghan Karasin
Kevin O'Reilly presided. Meghan Karasin stated that the meeting was being recorded.
Marshall Handly made the motion, seconded by Margaret Altman, to accept the minutes of the
meeting of September 19, 2023. Motion passed with one abstention.
Public Presentation
None.
Committee Reports
Personnel: No report.
Administration: No report.
Finance: No report.
Long Range Planning: Allison Babin made the edits suggested at the previous meeting and
submitted the Long Range Plan to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). It
has been accepted.
Report of the Library Director
1. Fiscal Year 2024 Budget: Everything is on track. The buyback sick time line is negative because
an additional employee participated who wasn't budgeted for. There's a large encumbrance under
electricity. This was encumbered by the Finance Department to facilitate their energy credit
program. The repair line shows $41,000 as available. But this is inaccurate. One of the purchase
orders for $13,000 is not yet showing up. The finance department is correcting the error. Kevin
O'Reilly asked if Allison was finding this new encumbrance method helpful. Allison Babin stated
that it is helpful to see what is really available.
2. Building Issues: Consigli has been hired as the construction manager at risk for the HVAC
project. They have confidence that they can start in mid-June or July. The library would close at this
time, open to the staff in December, and to the public in January. Joanne Panunzio asked if Allison
has thought about what would happen when the library closes. Allison Babin stated that she has
been thinking about this a lot, but the timeline is still not firm enough to begin planning. The Mayor
still has to go to the City Council for full funding. This will probably be on December 4, with a
public hearing and vote on December 18. The City Council has already appropriated $90,000 of free
cash for the elevator repair. The repair needed to go out to bid. Buckley Elevator, our service
provider, was the only bidder, with a cost of$103,760. The balance will have to be paid out of the
repair line. The annual sprinkler inspections at both buildings revealed a number of deficiencies. At
the main library, two control valves need to be replaced due to severe corrosion, with an estimate of
$7,195. At the Farms branch, the riser needs to be reconfigured to accommodate the annually
required forward test of backflow. The estimate for this work is $5,025.
3. Public records request for Information Concerning Challenges to Library Materials: On Sunday,
September 24, the library, along with every other library in the state of Massachusetts -received a
request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law(MLG Chapter 66, Section 10)for any
responsive documents and/or communications concerning book challenges. The requestor stated
that they were specifically seeking copies of any challenges, reconsideration requests, complaints,
or other similar communications from members of the public regarding materials in our collection.
We had 5 records that fell within the request. None of these reached a formal challenge. The
Assistant City Solicitor reviewed and redacted the correspondence.
4. Community Engagement: The library had recently exhausted its supply of COVID tests, but the
Health Director delivered several additional large boxes last Wednesday. However, the response was
so tremendous that there are very few left, and at this point we have only a small reserve for staff.
The Friends of the Beverly Public Library made $5,603 over 4 days for their fall book sale. They
are also selling a Shoebert sticker for $3. There's a literary pumpkin contest currently displayed on
the 2nd floor. Kerry Neenan, Community Resource Specialist with Northeast ARC, donated an
Adaptive Toolkit to the library. The toolkit contains various tools such as noise dampening
headphones, fidgets, adaptive scissors, page magnifiers, etc. The idea with this initiative is to
provide tools and resources for libraries to create more accessible programming.
5. Personnel: Our work with Bibliotemps to hire a temp for a children's maternity leave position
didn't work out. After reviewing the part-time budget line, we were able to hire a substitute librarian
to cover this time and substitute hours after the end of the leave. We are thrilled to have rehired
Joanne McElhenney who worked with us until COVID.
6. Programs: For adults, there's a Monday Mornings lecture on local water fowl as well as
Cookbook Club featuring Breakfast for Dinner. Teens have a Paint your Own Pumpkin event and a
Murder Mystery Party. Childrens has story times, LEGO club, and music programs.
Communications
None at this time.
Unfinished Business
Meghan Karasin, Assistant Library Director, is still without a contract. Allison Babin has followed
up with the Mayor and Bryant Ayles and will follow up with the Mayor again on Monday. We hope
to have a contract for the November meeting.
New Business
Trustee Terms: Six Trustee terms are expiring on January 31, 2024, due to a prior error in renewals.
(There was a mistake in the renewal of 3 terms which were renewed for 2 years instead of 3 years.)
Kevin O'Reilly, Margaret Altman, and Marshall Handly would like to stay on as Trustees. Myron
Schirer-Suter will be stepping down at the end of his term. Allison Babin will follow up with Mary
Behrle and Ivy Mahan. The Trustees charged Allison Babin with determining length of terms for
renewed trustees to ensure there are 3 expiring each year going forward.
Trust Fund Proposed Spending: Each year Allison Babin reaches out to the Finance Department to
request the 3-year rolling average of trust fund interest, which determines available spending.
Allison presented the proposed spending document to the Board. This year, the city budget included
$273,056.81 for books/subscriptions (library materials). The materials expenditure requirement is
$290,006.83. In order to meet this goal, $6,147 will be spent from state aid, $3,000 from the
Friends, and $9,570 from trust funds.
List of Documents/Exhibits
• September 19, 2023 meeting minutes
• FY24 Budget Report
• Shoebert Sticker
• Proposed Trust Fund Spending
The next regular meeting of the board is November 14, 2023 at 6PM in person at the main library.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:05PM.