HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-12-08 Board of Library Trustees MinutesOrR
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Town of Reading
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Board of Library Trustees
Date: 2014 -12 -08
Building: School - Memorial High
Address: 62 Oakland Road
Purpose: General Business
Attendees: Members - Present:
Time: 7:00 PM
kECEIVED
!OWN CLERK
"DING, MASS.
1015 JAN 20 P 1: 416
Location: Conference Room
Session: General Session
Vicki Yablonsky, Chair; John Brzezenski, Vice Chair; Alice Collins, Secretary;
Cherrie Dubois, Andrew Grimes,
Members - Not Present:
David Hutchinson
Others Present:
Ruth Urell, Director
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Cherrie Dubois
Topics of Discussion:
The meeting was called to order at 7:08 P.M.
The one agenda item was discussion of gift donation policy for the Reading Public
Library's renovation and addition project.
We discussed several questions: What would the funds be used for? Who would do
the fundraising? How would it be done?
On the What question, there was a long discussion about whether items should be
named or if we might Instead have levels -of- giving categories with a donor plaque in the
library. We also discussed whether we should have terms, and, if so, what kind of terms we
might set or whether gifts would be pooled and therefore unrestricted - that is, to be used
for whatever needs the library might have.
There was discussion on whether or not any of the money should offset budgeted
construction costs. With the passage of two override votes (2013, 2014) and the strong
input from library supporters and the town, the trustees felt that donations or gifts should
not be used to offset construction costs. The Trustees moved, seconded and voted that
"Any gift or donations would not be used to offset any of the project's budgeted costs."
As discussion ensued, we felt we needed to know more about what's in the budget
and what isn't, including items that may have been taken out to reduce earlier project
estimates. We concluded that our OPM STV (Evan Warner) and our architectural firm CBT
could best provide that information, in conjunction with Library Director Ruth Urell. Over
the past year or two, we tried to minimize the cost to the town, so what may have been
removed might be what we'd place on either a wish list or as unrestricted gifts.
Among those items whose funding is not locked in place are things like shelving
(what can be salvaged vs. additional or replacement shelving) and unspecified furniture and
technology equipment.
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On the Who question, we discussed seeking out interested citizens to lead any
gift /donation efforts.
In general, we felt our goal was to put back into the budget items that had been
taken out as we worked to get back to what had originally been proposed.
In debating whether we needed a 501 (c) (3) designation, we learned that people
can already contribute to the library directly and gifts are held in the library donations
account.
We also discussed corporate sponsors.
As the meeting drew to a close, we decided that our next steps were (1) to get a list
from our OPM STV (Evan Warner) and from CBT of items that had been taken out to reduce
the overall budget and (2) to come up with name of suitable candidates who might wish to
serve on a gifts /donatlon committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
�Respectfully submitted,
- /
Cherrie Dubois
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