1990-10-15 Board of Library Trustees Minutes

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Board of Library Trustees Minutes of Meeting - October 15, 1990 Conference Room - Reading Public Library - 6:00 p.m. Present: Dr. Christine Redford, chair; Mrs. Carol Beckwith; Ms. Cherrie Dubois; Mr. Robert Fields; Mrs. Elia Marnik. Absent: Mr. William Diamond. Dr. Redford called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. Minutes: Mr. Fields moved that the minutes of September 17 be approved. The motion passed. Financial report: The book budget may look overspent considering the time of year, but it includes the annual magazine subscription bill of $5000. Balances in special funds are now included on the financial statement. The state aid portion of the Board of Library Commissioners' budget is still intact. It is hoped that the library will receive about $20,000 in state aid within a few months. Director's report: Ben Nichols informed the Director of Linda Long's interest in establishing a trust fund for the library. Mrs. Long is a former Reading resident. She would like to make a donation of about $5000, possibly following up with another amount from her estate. Ms. Flannery will write a letter to Mrs. Long. Unfinished business: 1) Ms. Dubois asked if Beverly Levy's departure is a forerunner of things to come. The Director responded that Mrs. Levy wanted more hours and more responsibility, which the Reading Library could not provide for her. Ms. Flannery and Mrs. Alworth are delighted with the person who has just been hired. There were about seventy applicants for the position. 2) The Selectmen did receive the Trustees' letter of June 19 concerning reclassification. Their response was to tell the Town Manager to get the project done. After many delays, Ms. Flannery offered to retrieve the information and work done thus far by Doris Fantasia, which she did. However, some of the work that Mrs. Fantasia completed seems to be lost in her computer. Because the Selectmen want all departments reclassified simultaneously, about ten to fifteen job descriptions need to be written for other departments before the reclassification can be implemented. Ms. Flannery expects that this will require twenty hours of her time if she and Mr. Hechenbleikner split the work. Mrs. Marnik strongly objected to using library time to write job descriptions for other town positions. Members of the Board concurred. Mrs. Beckwith recommended that the Director should be paid for this work on an hourly basis from the Town Manager's account. Ms. Flannery presented her opinion that reclassification is the most important thing she needs to get done this year. The Board agreed to its importance, but decided to arrange a meeting with the Town Manager to discuss remuneration for Ms. Flannery. If Mr. Hechenbleikner does not ,agree to this, the Board could petition the Selectmen to have the library's 'professional staff be reclassified separately. Dr. Redford will make an appointment with the Town Manager within the next two weeks. Mrs. Beckwith recommended that this matter not be called to the public's attention at this time. 1