[Music] e [Music] you're good this is the April 10th 2024 meeting of the Acushnet Public Library Board of Trustees we are being audio taped and videotaped and we do have a quorum first item on the agenda today is the secretary's report from March 6th does anyone have any clarifications or uh additions to those minutes any questions I do make motion to accept it okay second all in favor I I thank you moving on to the next item we have the budget um so we are in the last quarter of the fiscal year um there is slightly a change uh in the children's room assistant line um our children's librarian um left she's no no longer working here so um that line will remain um stagnant for a little bit um I'm hoping to fill in gaps in the schedule uh with other staff who are available um and second uh longevity um our tech one who's been here for five years received a longevity payment this past pay period um we have our energy line uh which is a big one and we are we still have 3 months left and we are doing pretty good with that um and then in the building and grounds line um I'll explain a little bit further when I gave an update on the septic tank but I had to use $457 from that to um for the replacement pipes leading from the building to the septic tank um um any questions on the budget nope I don't have anything does anyone else have anything no no all right a motion please motion second all in favor thank you old business an update regarding replacing the pipes leading into to the septic so our pipes were replaced uh fantastic work by the gpw um our last meeting uh we approved $2,000 to use from the stock gift fund so that's why the $457 cents was taking out a building and grounds I'll break it so there was three invoices uh for three separate uh materials don't ask me what is what and and um so just a quick timeline they came in Friday March 8th they did the right side of the building they dug up the ground removed the pipes put in new pipes so we could not use this side of the bathroom uh this side of the building for the bathroom and the kitchen um after that they came back on Monday uh March 11th did the left side of the building same process uh traffic was able to flow freely um and what was uh completed that day was the entire pipe system on that side and they also created um traps so there's a a trap that is on the outside of the building in the event of a clog they don't have to go from inside they can just go from the ground to the septic tank and I didn't know there was also a trap on the side but I am uh D from Dan from the DPW will be giving me an updated blueprint of the pipes the the layout of the pipes and um there's also um drainage that comes down from the gutters there's multiple pipes that go out so will have both on it um because the one I had was outdated um so the pipes that were installed were PVC pipes they were much bigger the ones that were there were original to the building they they were made out of clay they were really cool but they were probably like 4 in in diameter so when they dug up the ground there was dirt in the pipes and there was already I saw it my own eyes there was already a clog forming so yeah it was it was pretty pretty interesting to see uh but they were in and out super fast and then on Friday March 15th uh the DPW came again paved it and uh tidied up the the grounds and put a grass seed on it and since then we it's been completely fine here so KN on wood it was done they were in and out super fast fantastic work um and we were just slightly over the mount that was um not bad at all EXC yes so um and I will uh when I get those blueprints I will share it with everyone um excellent and that's a update for the septic thing hopefully that will take care of that matter for a long time yes that's good anybody have any any questions about the thing Dad okay cross that one off the list right exactly on to the next thing um an update regarding the portica I talked to Seth the RO over at the RO Brothers in um the last couple days we played in telephone kind of line up a schedule where he come out here and uh look at everything and then give me an idea of when how much I guess to an extent okay so I talk to Elizabeth and she's gracious enough to allow me to take that downstairs see what we got and he'll go from there so I was hoping he was going to call me this morning I give him a call after the meeting and PR him along I know busy time of year for them too but he said he wanted to get out here and look at it so okay I suspect that they'll be here sooner than later okay and then so hopefully we can have some like some sort of a an estimate or plan by the next meeting and then he can hopefully week is coming this week yes so um I'll give a call just a gentle reminder and then because we'll have to vote on that right if it's uh if it if it ends up costing more than the 4,000 yes cuz we already have the we already have that money already all set so if that's all if it's within that then we're good but if it's not within that then we would have to wait till the next meeting but if it's within that amount then full steam ahead um I thought well my idea was that i' bring it back to everyone if a vote need to be taken if it doesn't then so we we already appropriated the we I mean we already voted to have the fund set aside to do that okay so that's all said it's just a matter of someone else is now doing it okay which is which is fine so a you should have the the total that we have left right to spend I do I just don't have it yeah and that's I don't have it in front of me either so it it was um we set aside a certain amount and then he's already uh Jim had already spent money on materials and stuff like that so if we subtract that whatever is left we've already got that a okay so if if it falls within that full steam ahead go right ahead and we can do that and then we'll just update at the next meeting if it's going to if the estimate's going to end being over then we would have to come back before he starts and then because we would have to put a try to put aside to vote to put aside one so as soon as i h everyone know and that way keep everybody appraise the situation that sounds great okay good enough that's perfect thank you awesome thank you does anyone else have any questions or comments on that that have you got a good one to cross off the list we're going on here I know it's crazy okay next is the FY 25 budget um so at the last Board of uh selectman meeting with the Town Administrator um there was discussion of our budget I met with the Town Administrator previously uh uh March 7th um about removing the uh util the energy line from the um the fy2 budget so at the meeting um it was presented that we were in a and b so a budget was with um the utility in and then the B budget was with the utility removed so when I met with the Town Administrator about removing it um he understands that we have to meet Mah so he wanted me to put in uh $7,000 into the other line so that way we could meet Mar with the energy removed um right now it's a big discussion there of what's actually going to happen and what the board of selectman are going to approve um and what I I made an error with is that our energy line also the water gets taken out so we canot remove completely the energy line because our water we pay quarterly roughly it's $400 $ a year so that energy line still needs to remain um with $400 if the town so with the T it's now on video what the town is trying to do is to block the energy from all the other buildings into some grouping don't know much about it but it was discussed in executive session during the last meeting so um with that being said I we still don't know which budget they're going to approve but both budgets do meet the mar the one with the energy line removed obviously is very close to the mar um and I'm just waiting on when they meet again to see what they decide or if there's any other talk of this energy package they're trying to to to get they trying to get a better rate for the entire uh Town buildings um and the meeting kind of just ended with them so I I don't know what was discussed afterwards and I think the whole the whole thing is right now with they're obviously they're trying to save the town money so by taking all the energies and grouping it all together they're hoping to get a better rate which is great except we here at the library have that Mar we need to meet so as as I was looking through this and and you know discussions that I had trying to understand it it's it makes sense to take the energy line out of the budget however then they need to give us $7,000 to meet the mar so are we really saving any money really because unless you're saving unless by grouping everyone together we're saving over $7,000 it's it's not worth it so there was discussions that they were going to they might think about trying to group everyone else together and leaving the library over here just alone because at least for now maybe when the the financial situation in the town gets better maybe then they'll be like well yeah will'll group you in and then give you the money to meet the mark but for right now it might make sense to them just to leave it alone I mean it would have to be a significant Savings in order for them to group it all together to save money and then give us $7,000 anyway I don't suspect the library uses that much energy believe it or not we actually do because it's the only source of energy that we use and this I didn't think so either but it came out the library doesn't use gas oil or propane it only uses Electric yeah so it's all through the through the even the heat the air conditioning the walkway everything is electric so our our the budget line that we have of the um of the $1 13,125 only 400 of that is actually water rounded right but the rest of it is so it's almost you know it's pretty close to $133,000 in electric so I can understand you know the savings so if we don't go in the grp mhm what does that do to our rate remains does it go oh it's going up we know it's going up correct you have any idea um it it went up from what did it go up from 9 to 17 9 9 to 17 kilowatt 9 cents per kilowatt whatever it is to it was almost double double so does it go up more than if we had gone in the group other I don't know because the the the um was all hush right the the uh details of the group they're still negotiating and trying to figure out what they were going to do if if they were able to do anything right I mean maybe you know if you get in a group thing maybe maybe it'll save you know two cents a kilowatt I don't even know what that even translates to but um okay it the the bottom line for us is if they take out that energy line leaving the $400 for water if they take out like roughly like 122,500 they would still need to pay us $7,000 so really you're you're not taking that much from us cuz you have to give it to us so we're not going to be paying for for energy but we're just going to put it somewhere else because we still have to meet that Mark so I I just think that it might not make sense I mean it makes sense from the standpoint that the library probably uses more electric than anyone else in the town that makes sense but it doesn't make sense in the fact that we would have to use the mar so we're going to take this 125 but we're going to give you seven back do we use heat pumps for for uh heat and cooling it's the that's everything is Electric in here but I will say that the next three months are our lowest usage months um but and that's probably because you're between right heat and air conditioning so it's not too hot but it's not too cold so it's yep so then and we don't have to worry about the walkway nope so that ends up parking out so stay tuned for that yes hopefully it well it needs to be solved pretty soon cuz that the it has to go to print um I think they said may I think it was May 1 I think or I mean I really I'm appreciative that they understand that the mar we need to meet the mar um but we'll we'll see what what is decided and you know absolutely get all right uh we have new business um the idea of adding a self-served kiosk used for Town business so I received a phone call from the Town Administrator about uh an idea this is very very new very very fresh uh in idea of adding a self-service kiosk in uh the library um you know we are open Monday through Saturday we are open till 7:30 Monday through Thursday Friday till 5 Saturday till 2:30 so we have hours outside of what normal town hall is open so what this kiosk is is a self-service kiosk where you can pay your utility bills or any type of transaction that you would do at Town Hall he is not he's currently looking at vendors I couldn't give you a picture of what it looks like I'm assuming it looks like an ATM um I don't have much information it's just an idea and then I wanted to bring it to the board to see if they had any questions that I could ask the Town Administrator if this does um come about um the things that are on my mind about it is Library staff will not man it we can't we it's it's not um it's not our responsibility um the other thing is space how big is this we don't have much space here where would this thing go what happens if it needs to be troubleshooted um those were some of the questions that I had regarding this idea I think it's fantastic that you know not everyone works you 9 to5 or or they work in 9 to5 but Town Hall closes so if they want to pay some bill um they could do it at at the library um cost I I I wouldn't we would not pay for it I don't think it's you know it would be funded through the library at all um that's the other thing on it uh but um I just want to open the floor here to see if anyone had any thoughts about it so that when I do get a call about this I can bring it up to see um if it's something that we would my initial thought is M who is the audience that we're targeting with this kiosk because I know that I pay all of my bills online from my computer so from my house okay so so and it's it's it's on a it's on our website so it's it's not anything that would necessarily need a kiosk for you just need a computer so are we just targeting those people that don't have a computer that can't get to town hall between the hours of 9 and 5 okay or are we talking about paying bills other than what you can pay online I know you can pay water excise tax I don't know what else you can our computers in a sense of kios well that's I was thinking so but what we wouldn't need to add anything else if you if you want to come in you but you can do that now I think this handles checks I don't know if it C handles money but I think it handles checks I it's still very young I don't even he he hasn't even he was looking at vendors I couldn't give a name so I could read about it you know regardless of whether we we won't have staff assigned to it but people don't have that don't get their answers are going to be looking to some yes of course we don't help them I can't help them it's a little bit of a negative but I see the benefit to the town and to the town's people I don't know how big that audience is but right I don't I don't know how big that audience is either like hey you can get there 9 to5 go to Town Hall you can pay your bill but I mean this like the big thing would be like the weekend cuz Saturday you know no one's open on the Saturday except the library in town they have a drop off box in front of the Town Hall yes they do have drop off box I suspect it would have a limited appeal yeah yeah is it done anywhere around here never heard of this I Googled it to see if I could find another place and I couldn't I couldn't find anything um I mean I think we we I mean we can't obviously we couldn't vote on it any information it was just but I would think that we would probably need more information before we would even consider okay even thinking about it okay and then what like you said what's the target audience and how many people are actually going to town hall to pay the bill now that can't get there that aren't mailing it or paying it on the computer themselves or dropping it in the in the Dropbox I mean because they it's obviously they're all getting paid now somehow somehow you would think okay well anybody else have anything on that no okay should be continued should be continued second area of new business the Massachusetts education and government Association which is Mega so during that same phone call regarding the kios with the Town Administrator um this this Mega um I'm still a little puzzled on it so it was presented to me as a company um that will come into town buildings and see if there's anything that is a safety hazard so um what was said was that it would if there was something that was not safe or U Hazard to workers here um that you could apply for Grants or funds um with this report from this company um that was the information I was given I went on their web page to see if I could find out more about it um I don't know if it's something that is needed here um we don't have a hazard if we don't work in a hazard of environment um I I I I I don't feel safe say I don't feel comfortable saying um that I understand this completely I would definitely need more information about it um but the Town Administrator wanted me to present it at our next meeting um and I wanted to once again open the floor to ask uh if anyone has what what questions I should ask more about aside from what benefit uh like is there a cost are we paying for it is this the town doing it um I believe that other buildings are um but I don't know which ones um so I I would it to me it seems like it's just it looks good if you're applying for something like a grant to put 88 compliant something or another um because this report is like official through this company um so I I want to open the the floor if anyone wants to to add more questions to it uh just let me know please anyone have any thoughts does anyone come into this building now looking for issues or is it just the staff what you see I I've had patrons who've mentioned things to me um but it's I me more like a government no no we do have our the a Southeastern fire uh I think fire safety they're on Alden Road they come in and do our fire extinguishers they check everything um but they're not like official government but no okay no no we do not I I remember hearing about it on the selectman's meeting I think they were talking about um mega and I do remember them saying that they had it was a couple of different town buildings that they were talking about it when I heard it it seemed to me like it was more of a um you know how you can do they have the programs do like Mass Save like the people come in and they'll tell you oh hey you could it would be more beneficial to have insulation here and better Windows here it sounded to me when I heard it that that's what this was like Hey we're going to come in and we're going to be like hey gez you shouldn't have that there you shouldn't and then report back to you and then from there but it didn't sound like it was something that we were uh paying for it sounded like it it itself was already either a grant or it was already kind of in the work but that's my interpretation of what it what it was I mean if it's something like that and somebody wants to come in and look around and be like I mean why not yeah right and if they come in and they say Hey gez you know that it's free and no obligation correct exactly it just and add it to this and I'm like right and then and then maybe like you said if if they find something then maybe we look oh jeez that's that's a pretty good idea maybe we'll think about that and then maybe there are grants that I do know we do need an automatic door comp door so that would be if if it's if this is something that this company does so um uh I know prior to my arrival the bathrooms had pipe installations to with people if you're under like on a wheelchair you don't burn yourself but I don't know who discovered that right um so maybe there are things that we we're just not aware of I mean I would say if you know we're if it's part of the thing we're not paying for I mean I would say first of all you know is there a cost and what's the purpose yes okay so we are open to this um yeah and just see what yeah okay we're open to the discussion I would think and then if you come back with more info okay okay and like once again this is also you still bu very early early stages all right moving on to the director's report all right where should I start so um the last meeting uh the February statistics weren't in yet so I just want to just quickly go over uh to the one I really want to talk about is Mark so March we have seen our highest circulation for adult and children since last September so we we're coming out from the winter uh the the slow season um and then this Fe this past week and a half have been pretty wild here with the solar E clips so we're probably going to see a good uh hopefully see a a rise in the statistics for April um but other than that our statistics are pretty much um the same um and the people counter I will believe next month will be very very high uh last Friday we were only we're only open 4 hours on Friday and due to the solar E clips glasses we had 140 people come in um looking for these glasses it was it was it was pretty pretty wild um so the other news that I want to report is our children's librarian uh has taken another job she left so this past Saturday was her last day um we are grateful for her time here although short uh we wish her well uh at her new position um so regarding that vacant position I immediately posted the job inhouse uh PR the Union contract um so it was posted inhouse for a week and then after a week I reached out to um the town so the town graciously put it on their web page and on their social media I also uh posted it on LinkedIn which I haven't done before it was also added to the sales Weekly Newsletter the sales website um the Massachusetts library Board of commissioned website uh Library job line through Simmons and list serves for the entire state for Mass yak and all regions so as of today I have um nine applicants have applied so great looking up for this um and um I hope to start interviewing in May um the next item on uh my report is I did attend had two PTO meetings the one was at the Kush elementary school on March 11th and then another one which was new um to us was that the uh PTO was for the elementary school met at the library so I uh uh stayed uh stood over here and we I discussed the library how to get a library card some events that were happening um so that was exciting to to be in our environment for the people meeting and um another issue not an issue but um this I so I updated the public computers on March 22nd and installed a remote program that George uses from sales to troubleshoot on our computers unfortunately computer number two um would not it would would not boot it would just keep going in the cycle so George had to remove computer number two and he's working on it um the issue that we do have right now is our public printer broke so our printer that is connected to the public computers our fact machine and our copier uh scanner um it died on us it gave us the message we believe the printer is from 2011 and it it was it was wonderful so um what I had George do is he used uh the remote program that was installed and he switched over the other printer that we have to the public computers so the public are they're still able to print it's just we don't have fact services so I reached out to the town ad uh Town administrator's office cuz we do have one printer that is with a contract cont with core business technology um and I reached out to the town to see if I could look into purchasing a printer through them um they told me yes I can look into it so I have I've been speaking to core business technology I have we have an idea of the printer that we want um we are just waiting on a response I'm I'm just waiting on the response from them so the you know I could have ordered a printer through WB Mason um but that would just be the printer with no support with it this printer that um that I'm looking at is a heavier printer heavy heavy duty usage printer um at duplexes cuz ours didn't um it does everything the same facts copy scans um it's a higher Vol volum capacity um and troubleshooting uh the ink and everything would be done through this contract that the town has um but the printer is a little bit more money than the one that was on WB Mason so it is a table a desktop printer so it would fit on a regular table um but when I get more word from them um I will let everyone know um so unfortunately our we do get a lot of fact inquiries so unfortunately we just we have a nice little handout a staff member are created that we give options that there are other places to fact uh for example minute Ben press on the Avenue right across of holiday Bakery um they uh have vaccine Services there um so uh so starting April 1st we were handing out solar eclipse glasses uh we had about uh over maybe a little bit over 450 glasses to give out um we gave them out throughout the week Friday we ran out and then Saturday we received some more um Monday uh literally an hour before the clips the school department gave us a call to let us want us to if we wanted um glasses so they had about it was about 70 glasses and what they failed to tell me was that they let the school know the student uh the I think it was Ford um so we had a parade of cars just going around the building and they went so fast they were they were going so fast I posted on social media they posted on social media so word got around really really fast um but it's it's there was a lot of people in here uh lot of energy uh for their solar eclipse classes I hope that energy continues uh to please come in here we we also have a lot more than than solar eclipse you know next week uh so it was a lot of new faces so that was it was it was pretty wild and the we'll have to wait 20 years to have another event like this um this just happened this morning I just wanted to mention it um so we had discussion when our children's librarian was here every week every year we do hostage Little People's College they come in in the morning and then pre uh the prior week before they hang their art work for the week of the children and um so I did my first story time ever cuz I promised and unfortunately a children's librarian left so I had to do story time today and I will say I enjoyed it um so that was exciting to see and I a lot of them have been here so I was really happy to hear that um on Town items um um so that list I had presented last meeting I uh gave it to the Town Administrator and and the Town Administrator gave it to Dave um so there he was here the other day just cleaning the flower beds just ever so you know nothing extreme or anything he had a student with him from Old Colony um so the other thing of on Friday Dave was also here to talk about painting so um they're looking for interior what stuff to do interior so our weights of our building of our door frames need to be redone but hallway that's behind us needs to be done there's gaps in the wall um so we were last time I spoke to Dave we were going to discuss the paint I know there's some paint downstairs we're going to see if it has the label still on it um so that way we can get a match and have um the white Prime and and the hallway redone um there was something else just to mention there was an odd smell in the break room um so we staff thought maybe something had unfortunately passed away in the walls or the ceiling or the floor um so I had Dave come in and look in the ceiling he popped a tile there was nothing there so I it's just no patrons right so it's just something to mention in case it does happen again because it was foul we don't know what it was hopefully people me staff have mentioned that it smelted like a dead mouse I don't know I don't know what dead animals smell like but the spell went away so it was there for about a week and a half and then it just we came in and it was gone um there was also mention maybe because the Earth was dug up those pipes were dug up that maybe some smell was still somewh where but it didn't there was we looked downstairs at our piping there was no smell downstairs there was nothing leaking there we tour AP that kitchen underneath the count underneath the sink to see if there was anything absolutely nothing so I just wanted to make the note of that in the event that we have a weird smell again we have to uh I'll need more ideas to figure out what where it's coming from um so that's my uh report um I do have a couple of announcements um because we don't have a children's room unfortunately our Wednesday 10:30 Story Time is on a Hiatus um we do have this month again we do have Pace with their mindful Melodies and that is on 411 and 4:18 at 2 uh I'm sorry at 11: um you can sign up online for that event um next Tuesday uh during school vacation we have a midday movie uh Disney's wish will'll be showing at 2 and then for Earth Day on Monday April 22nd we will have a drop in seed craft where you're creating uh with toilet paper rolls you're putting seed seeds in um so that way you can take it home and and plant it um that's it for for the report and announcements anyone have any questions about it sounds like you've been busy yes it's been a very it was a very busy busy busy busy month and um I'm toally going to get busy because the summer is coming and we we have been planning uh for summer since January uh the summer conerts have been even planned uh since 2023 so we will have a packed summer I am looking into programming because we will um you know because of the lack of the children's room uh librarian so uh we we have uh a good summer in store for us so yeah sounds fun do you have any idea when you expect to hire a new children's Library if I I'm hoping before July I it all depends on where where they coming from whoever I hire what they you know if they have to give a to a notice they have to give a notice or you know it just it just depends on that so I'm hoping July um unfortunately I'm not here the next two weeks so I can't do much I'm just collecting applications and cover letters um but hoping it could be sooner you could be later anybody have any other questions okay uh let's see our next meeting is Wednesday May 8th at 12:30 is everyone good with that phone with me I forget my phone I think I'm okay that's like an appendage if it's not okay let me know know okay Jerry does that work for you yep John does that work for you right know lets good all right so our next meeting is Wednesday May 8th is that good for you it's good it might be short that's okay yeah that's fine so Wednesday May 8th at 12:30 if we are all set motion to close second all right all in favor hi this April 10th meeting of the a Christian Public Library Board of Trustees is officially adjourned it is 115 thank you [Music]