Trustees present: Jeannette Tokarz, Laura Lawson Tucker, John Shaw, Judith
Serkin, Josh Nelson, Sandra Cortes, Nika Fotopulos
Others present: Cathi Wilken (Librarian), Lesley Malouin (Friend), Davida
Bagatelle
Trustees Absent: None!
Meeting began at 6.39pm
Accepted minutes of February monthly meeting
We welcomed our new Library Trustee, Josh Nelson, to the team.
Trustees unanimously elected the slate of officers below for the next year:
Co-chairs: Laura Lawson Tucker, Judith Serkin
Treasurer: John Shaw
Secretary: Nika Fotopulos
Review Trustee Handbook
Judith and Leah put together a refreshed handbook compiling the many
documents to orient Josh and all trustees to the Library and their role as elected
trustees of a municipal Library. Laura put the docs into binders.
We agreed to move the review of the strategic plan to April to give Josh time to
look it over.
John gave all present a refresher on open meeting law from his training 7 yrs
ago. Some key guidelines:
Meeting agendas must be posted at least 48hrs ahead of time.
We must stick to the agenda.
Meeting minutes must be posted after the meeting.
A meeting is a quorum (4 Trustees) whether in person or on email discussing
matters relating to the Library. Email exceptions are made to schedule meetings
and coordinate logistics.
We had an overview of our FY ‘25 annual budget.
All Trustees are encouraged to thoroughly reread the newly compiled handbook.
Librarianʼs Report – Cathi
Lesley is working on a new Guilford Library website that is more user friendly.
She is committed to having it ready by April 1st, no joke ;).
The next few weeks of programming at the Library will be focused on the
Eclipse. There will be Friday and Monday events/activities at the Library starting
this Friday, like making an eclipse viewer, a changing color critter craft, making a
pocket for eclipse tools and more.
The week before the eclipse, Cathi will visit each classroom at the school to
share about the eclipse. There are enough viewing glasses for all the students.
Josh is working on the planet markers for the drivable universe installation, and
is planning to have it set up before the eclipse.
Treasurerʼs Report – John
We are on track!
Our fundraising goal is $1400 from itʼs end of year target and we still have the
raffle concert in June budgeted at $2500.
Librarian Job Description – review and plan hiring process
Trustees unanimously voted to have Judith and Josh make up a subcommittee
to plan and implement the hiring process for the new Librarian Director.
We reviewed and made some edits to the Job description.
Building expansion update
Jeannette shared her research into grants available for Vermont Library
expansion projects. The relevant grantʼs application period is this Fall, for a
Spring/Summer 2025 building project.
The accessibility report on our Libraryʼs facility and grounds is available in a hard
copy at the Library. A digital copy of the report will also become available when
the new website is launched in a couple of weeks.
Jeannette will be in communication with Erika to keep the town involved and
aware of the Trustees plans for any future building projects.
Friends of the Library update
Next quarterly meeting is April 30th at 9am, this meeting will be focused on the
details of organizing the raffle concert.
There will be a programs and services meeting March 30th at 9 am.
New Business
John shared that Diane Frost of the Historical Society gave him an update that
the Meeting House renovations are now complete and the space is now
operational. The Historical Society is welcoming of the Library using the Meeting
House for programming.
There will be a public open house event June 1st from 1-3pm.
Lesley shared a viewing of the new website in progress. Everyone was very
pleased with the look and user friendly layout. Thank you so much Lesley for all
your great work!
Meeting adjourned at 8S20pm
***Next monthly Trusteeʼs meeting is Monday April 15th 2024 in person and on
zoom
Minutes by Secretary,
Nika Fotopulos
gflagenda 