Village of Red Hook Red Hook Public Library Monthly Report October 2024
The Red Hook Public Library (RHPL) held their regular board meeting on Thursday, October 17th.
All board members were attendance: Anna Greig, President, Martha Tepepa, Vice President, Amy Husten, Treasurer, Sarah DeVeer, Secretary, Gareth Davies, Leigh Bahnatka, and Grace Kachigian. Alex Geller, the Library’s Executive Director, was present. I was the only guest.
Strategic Planning Committee (Members: Leigh Bahnatka, Anna Greig, Martha Tepepa, Gareth Davies)
This committee reported that they held another small focus group. The committee plans to use the Community Needs Assessment as part of their basis for strategic planning. The tabling they did at Apple Blossom & Hardscrabble was not productive. The focus groups are with leaders of organizations and groups, speaking on behalf of their group. This committee will be reporting in November about their findings.
Board Development (Members: Gareth Davies, Anna Greig, Sarah deVeer)
This committee has met with each board member who joined in the last year. The purpose was to offer feedback, answer questions, discuss assignments, and receive feedback.
This committee has also been reviewing applications for the open board seat. They plan to have a recommendation for the November meeting.
This committee is also responsible for the Executive Director’s evaluation. The goal is to complete it by year’s end. There was an acknowledgement that this hasn’t been done in the past. The board discussed including a 360 process where the board gives feedback, the ED can share their perspective, and the staff has a chance to provide feedback as well. Gareth plans to follow up with establishing a format for this evaluation.
Policy Committee (Members: Sarah deVeer, Martha Tepepa)
The Policy Committee met this evening at 6pm so offered a verbal report. Family leave was discussed, and the group acknowledged that they need to look at the benefits in a systematic way, not one at a time. They discussed the NY Family Leave that the Library has access to through their current insurance coverage. It was determined that the Library needs a policy stating they abide by NY Family Leave.
Personnel Actions
Two personnel actions were approved. The appointment of Lilliana Kahan as Library Assistant, and Julia McNulty as Library Clerk.
When asked, Alex said the Library currently has 2 full time employees and about 10 part time. There was a brief discussion about the health care plan and a question of whether the Library could join the Village’s plan and wondered if there would be any benefit in that.
Treasurer’s Report
Grace, Alex & Amy met with Rose Wentworth, the Library’s accountant, to review the accounting and the various adjustments that are being made. Grace indicated that the Balance Sheet is still in flux from cleaning up from prior months/years. The moving around should be done by year’s end. Grace is a CPA. She indicated that the accountant is using workarounds in QuickBooks that are making the balance sheet change in odd ways from month to month. She is okay for now. She plans to review all at year end.
Expenses are in line with the budget. Next year, Grace plans to change the way the Library accounts for the Village garbage tags to reflect that it is a pass through and not a revenue or expense.
Executive Director’s Report
E-circulation continues to increase significantly while physical circulation is up slightly. Foot traffic is up but following similar seasonal trends. Programs and outreach to other organizations continue to develop.
For next year, Alex plans to review the Hoopla contract as costs are going up significantly. He plans to coordinate with Tivoli Library.
Several grants were received. There were personnel shifts.
The contractor for the Stucco & Porch projects is MCT. Work was reported to be 1/3 complete. The completion date is contracted to be December 28[th] . Completion is expected before that.
Other Business
There was a discussion of planning for the annual appeal. The Friends Group is not ready to take that over at this time.
The board is working on setting up a social meeting with the Tivoli Library board. A discussion followed on whether this would fall under the Open Meetings Law and thus need to be public. More to come on that.
Public Comment
I shared the upcoming Village events including Pumpkins in the Park, Halloween Parade, and Tree planting. I also reminded the board that any appointments to the Library board are made by the Village of Red Hook by the Library’s original charter. We discussed timing and expectations.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Smythe
You can find all the full reports provided on the library’s website. See details for finding them below.
Board documents can be accessed on the Library Website: www.redhooklibrary.org/board-of-trustees/. The link to the board packet is imbedded in the text toward the bottom of the page.
Upcoming Meetings/Events Next Board Meeting Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 6:30pm in the third floor conference room. Committee meeting schedule is on the library calendar on the website.