TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN

Public Library

Board of Library Trustees

Minutes of Public Meeting May 21, 2008

Meeting was held at the Provincetown Public Library, 356 Commercial St.

 

Members Present:  Mick Rudd, Chair; Jim Cole, Secretary; Paul Benatti; Lyn Kratz;  

Members Absent:  Tom Boland was not present for the beginning of the meeting.

Others Present:  Debbie DeJonker-Berry, Library Director

Call to Order:  Mick Rudd called the meeting to order at 7:18pm

 

1.  Public Statements:  There were no public statements.

 

2.  Minutes:  Lyn moved to accept the minutes of the April 16th BOLT meeting as amended.  Paul seconded the motion.  The vote passed 4-0-0.  There was no discussion.

 

3.   Agenda:  There were no changes.

 

MOTION:  Paul moved to place the reorganization of the BOLT on the agenda of the next regular meeting.  Lyn seconded the motion.  The vote passed 4-0-1.

 

4.   Chair’s Report – For a full report, please see attached.

Chairman’s and Directors Report

May 2008

 

Temporary Landscaping

Greg Morris has installed a mat with grass seed beneath it and re-graded the slope.  We have a team of volunteers hand-watering so that it can get established.  Once it does, the intent is to let the lawn go dormant in

the summer.  We will have a separate meter for this.

 

Permanent Landscaping

I've written a RFP for a historic landscape architect to design plans and bid specs for us.  It was an interesting experience.  While we do not legally have to go through all the steps (it was deemed a public works project by the Inspector General's office so we just needed to show that there was competition in the award), I think the process of advertising,

interviewing, etc will be very beneficial to the project and so decided to pursue the full process.  The interview committee will be composed of two trustees, a member of local historic, a member of the disability commission and 4 at large.  There will be a point of review for the Town (public hearing) as well but the idea is to create a sanctuary space out front that satisfies historic (and Mass. Historic) and ADA.

 

Long-Range Planning

The Planning Committee has done their job so now it is in our court. Deb will have a draft list of Goals for the July BOLT meeting

 

Furnace

The furnace and associated chimney, etc has been replaced. The Town will settle with JK Scanlan and the architects

 

Assistant Director/Resource Development Position

Deadline for applications: June 5th.  We will need two(?) trustees for an interview team and perhaps the assistant town manager?

 

Grantwriter (Felicia Penn)

Felicia and I met and have been in communication by email.  She is working on several grants for Heritage Day 2009 and is doing a very good job.  She is almost through the funding the Supporters voted on and I am going to ask them to fund her for a few hundred dollars more so that she can complete these applications.

 

Grantwriting & Façade

We have three grants in: Community Preservation (funded for $50,000), Hiebert Foundation and Mass. Historic Commission Preservation Projects Fund (will hear by the end of June on these two).  In addition, we have approximately $210,000 towards a base bid in the Library Building Fund. John Bologna of Coastal Engineering and Lynne Spencer of Menders, Torrey & Spencer (Boston) met with Eric Dray and myself to look at the saved pieces of the façade which have been returned to the library site from storage.  Lynne seemed pleased, and we plan on re-using them.  They will also be very useful for reproductions.  In addition, our base bid will remove the asphalt "roof" that the belfry sits on and make it first alternate.  This way, if the bids come in for more than we have in cash, we can still award the contract (The goal is to have a contractor on site with dollar figures for the alternates so that we can go to the community to ask for the amounts needed to complete the façade).  When the façade is complete, permanent landscaping construction can commence (remember, we have the funds for this!). 

 

Base bid:  Main gable and lantern

Alternate #1: the asphalt section

Alternate #2: The upper horizontal pavilion section (below the gable) alternate #3: The lower horizontal pavilion section

 

Emergency Exterior

The water has been temporarily stopped by repairs and a few well-placed buckets in the attic.

 

Town-wide Goal setting

Our goals for last year were:

1.  Web-site: Complete revision of Library Web-site.  Complete Advocate Live project (Metadata and remaining issues to be digitized)

 

2.  Pursue making exterior of library watertight

 

3.  Complete lower level

 

For next year, I'd suggest:

 

1.  Long-Range Plan: Complete

 

2.  Landscaping Completion

 

3.  Façade Completion

 

4.  Write Fundraising/Development Plan 

 

 

Fundraising and Programming

A lot is underway:

 

Appeal Letter and Calendar of Activities (New web-site is almost finished!): to go out by May 27

 

Book Sale dates:

Wednesday 10-4

Thursday Noon-4

Friday 10-4

 

Wednesday May 28-Friday May 30

Wednesday June 25-Friday June 27

Wednesday July 23 - Friday July 25

Wednesday August 27-Friday August 29

Wednesday September 24-Friday September 26

 

The Friends are always looking for volunteers if you have time or know someone...

 

GALE Fund Annual Event, Thursday, May 22--We are on their program for "Spring Fling" "Fund a need"--the need is the fundraising for the film about the story of Provincetown's early response to the AIDS crisis (Heritage Day 2009)

 

Heritage Day:

Saturday, June 14th at 11:30

This year, we will be honoring the Fire Department,

introducing a brochure on the Town Art Collection

written by Tony Vevers (and thus honoring the Art Commission) and previewing the Josephine C Del Deo Heritage Archives

 

Portuguese Festival, Friday, June 27 & Saturday, June 28

We will have a booth on Ryder Street beginning around 1:00 PM and will sell old copies of Town Reports (quadruplicates). Volunteers needed...

 

Vixen August 1 & 2

Paula Poundstone, national spokesperson for Friends of the Library USA (FOLUSA) will be performing at Vixen.  We will have 5-10 free tickets and also will set up a booth

 

Friday, September 5th???  Packard Gallery Fundraiser

 

Friday, September 12th??  Special fundraising reading (place, author and date to be determined/announced)

 

Schooner/Sailboat Races: July 19th and Sept 4:

We have been approached by a new sailing race from Provincetown to Yarmouth Nova Scotia.  I offered to help in any way we can.  We will probably keep it simple the first year, being included in a walking tour.  The Provincetown Schooner Regatta will award a trophy, possibly from the bow of the Rose Dorothea, as part of their weekend events.

 

Art Commission Tours 

I’ve asked the Art Commission to provide tours of the collection on Friday afternoons in July and August.  Napi has agreed to lead two of them. I’m hoping I will learn enough so that I can give a few as well.  This will supplement nicely the Library tour brochure that Karen has written and is presently available and also the full art brochure that Tony Vevers wrote for us and that Joe Tripp has designed (which will be unveiled on Heritage Day)

 

Art Exhibit

Mick has been working with a potential donor who would like to exhibit a paintings by an important Provincetown painter. There are insurance and other issues, but Mick and I would like to find a way to make this happen and perhaps be part of our offerings.

 

Children's Programs

We will not hold the Born to Read Program at St. Mary's this summer.  Our funders (the Children's Place in Eastham) want us to concentrate our efforts in the off-season (September through June)

 

We will follow the State Model for Summer Reading and use Social Networking

(computer software) for our readers to record their time spent reading.  We will probably have one big event this summer for the kids.  In addition, we are talking with the Friends about buying a few MP3 players for the kids to use and then purchase some titles from Overdrive for them to listen to (http://clamsnet.lib.overdrive.com/442BFFA6-4442-4DCA-8E04-9340B229CB89/10/405/en/Default.htm )

 

Evening Bedtime Stories with Linda Schlecter--July and August -- Thursdays

 

Josephine C Del Deo Archives

The library Provincetown Collection has been moved into the Archive.  The Heritage Collection move is complete.  We have started scanning in the Library and should have our first contribution (the Fire Department archive) up and running by the end of June--hopefully for Heritage Day.  Volunteer Bob Burns is coming in once a week on Thursdays to scan.  Now, we need to find someone to add metadata!

 

Building Fund expenses

We have $7800 in electrical work that DPW has requested we pay from the building fund.  Unfortunately, Ronny White's office has not been able to break down the expenses but I feel that these are legitimate costs (for lighting for the belfry and for the lower level). In addition, we will have a few bills from EF Winslow for the heating system.  We have had several dampers stuck open that needed repair.

 

 

Mick stated that both the Chair and the Director will now prepare a report in advance of the meeting so that the BOLT members can be more productive with their time spent together.  Additions and updates follow.

 

a.  Assistant Director Update – Karen MacDonald will leave her position at the PPL on June 3rd for a position at the Truro Library.  The deadline for the applications for the Assistant Director/Resource Development position is June 5th.  The BOLT discussed ways of honoring Karen.

 

b.     Art Exhibit – The BOLT discussed the request from a potential donor who would like to exhibit the artwork of a local artist in the library.  Deb suggested that they submit a written proposal to the BOLT.  Deb said that hopefully the library will be hiring an individual who can help with this.

 

c.      Children’s Program – With the state curtailing funding and the library being short-staffed, the Born To Read program will no longer be sponsored by the library at St. Mary of the Harbor during the summer.  The program will be offered off-season instead but may be sponsored by another non-profit, with separate private funding in the summer. 

 

d.     Building Fund Expenses – Deb discussed the expenses that DPW has requested that the library pay for from the Building Fund.  Deb stated that she would like to see the expenses broken down so that the BOLT can get a better understanding of what is a legitimate library expense.  Deb approached the BOLT for the $7,800 to pay for the electrical expenses associated with the belfry.

 

      MOTION:  Tom moved to fund the expenses of $7,800 related to electrical work completed as part of the belfry restoration because these expenses comply with the standard for gift fund monies privately raised for the restoration of the building; provided, however that the Library Director write a letter to the DPW expressing that this payment is occurring because the expenses were incurred as part of the restoration project and not routine maintenance or repair.  Jim seconded the motion.  There was no further discussion.  The vote passed 5-0-0.

 

5.   Resource Development Report –

a.  Gift and Cast Report – There is $143,677 available in unrestricted funds after expenses.  There was $2,950 deposited into the Building Gift Fund in April along with an additional $300 deposited in the Tracy Bliss Gift Fund.  Of the $2,950 raised, $500 was donated in honor of Margaret Mayo’s 100th birthday, and $2,000 was a pledge payment. 

 

6.   New Business:  There was no new business.

 

7.      Other Business and Correspondence:  There was no other business.

 

The next meeting of the BOLT will be at June 18th at 7:15pm.

 

Adjournment:  Jim moved to adjourn the meeting at 9pm.  Lyn seconded the motion.  The vote passed 5-0-0.

 

These minutes were approved by a vote of the Provincetown Library Board of Trustees present at their meeting on ________________.

 

 

Respectfully submitted: ______________________________              ___________________________

Library Board of Trustees signature                          Title

 

 

 

 (Minutes prepared by Jean Jarrett)