Covid-19 Pandemic Meeting – Virtual, via Zoom –  1 pm

(as submitted)

Members present: Lee Halberg, Tulli Kerstetter, Amy Weldon, Miriam Dunbar, Anne Benson, Koko (Carolyn) Smith, Laurie Webster

1. Call to order at 1:02 p.m.

2. Minutes from September meeting – approved as emailed.

3. Guest requests – none

4. Proxy/e-mail votes – none

5. Correspondence – none

6. Financial report – Anne began to summarize the report in Laurie’s absence when she discovered a mistake. After Laurie’s arrival, the mistake was pointed out to her and she corrected the mistake ($1000 deposit instead of $1000 withdrawal). Formal approval of this report will be made at the next Friends’ meeting in January of 2021.

7. Librarian’s report – (verbal report only). Lee is working on the annual appeal email list, as well as finalizing grants and grant reports. The Library Board met two weeks ago and decided that the library should continue to remain closed especially due to the recent increase in Covid-19 cases in the county. The outdoor heaters that were ordered need to be sent back because they were 220v instead of 110v. In addition, there will be insulated tarps put up around the porch area. Lee also reported that the library as local polling station was rather quiet all day November 3
Lee requested funds from Friends for the annual year-end fundraiser letter. The appeals letter goes out to about 1800 prospective donors, with about a 10% response. The donations usually amount to around $10,000. The cost will be around $2500 and will include an annual letter from Friends on different colored paper. Anne and Amy agreed to update the Friends letter. Amy moved to give the library up to $2500 for this year’s mailing, which was seconded by Miriam. All approved. Lee will forward the invoice from Brand Central to Laurie to pay by MFOL credit card.

8. Old business – none

10. New business

Review Bylaws. The duties listed for each of the executive committee officers at present in the Bylaws seem to be at odds with which people are doing the duties. Anne will look over the current Bylaws and bring her suggestions to the next meeting in January.
Silvia would like the meetings to be later in the day or at the usual time of 7 p.m. Lee would like it still in afternoon – say around 4 p.m. All agreed to set the next meeting for 4 p.m.
Meeting adjourned at 1:27 p.m.

Next meeting: January 4, 2021, at 4 pm on Zoom.

Covid-19 Pandemic Meeting – Outside the Library – 1 pm

(as submitted)

Members present: Anne Benson, Miriam Dunbar, Ilga Vice, Tulli Kerstetter, Laurie Webster, Amy Weldon, Silvia Fleitz

1. Call to order at 1:06 p.m.

2. Minutes from August meeting — Miriam moved to accept the minutes as emailed and Amy seconded. All approved.

3. Guest requests — none

4. Proxy/e-mail votes — none

5. Correspondence — none

6. Financial report. Only transaction for the month was Ilga’s membership check. Total checking account balance as of 8/31/20 was $4904.87; savings $4221.58, for a total balance of $9126.45. No monies have been spent due to the library being closed since March. Lee used Friends’ TechSoup account to purchase hotspots with some of the CARES Act funds. Tulli moved to approve the financial report and Miriam seconded. All approved.

7. Librarian’s report. Since Director Lee Halberg was unable to attend, Anne read his report into the record as follows:
“We continue with curbside service for the month of September. We have received lots of feedback from patrons that they appreciate our helping to keep the community safe and still working to meet their needs. Courier service resumes today! Not all libraries are lending yet, so selection is still limited but we are able to request more items than the last few months. We received a $10,000 CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) grant from IMLS for new laptops and hotspots to check out to the community. The laptops are currently being configured and cataloged, and we are waiting on delivery of the hotspots.”

8. Old business — none

10. New business

Book Sale opportunity – Lions Club Craft Fair. Julie Whelihan emailed Anne re: books from the Walters family being sold at the craft fair by MFOL. Anne talked with Joan, and Joan had a cursory look at the books; there was a mixture of good to not-so-good titles. Joan told Anne that these types of events (craft fairs) don’t really make money, and a better idea is to have Linda donate the books to Friends for sale in future. Questions that came up: Are we interested in taking her books right now since they are moving? Is Better World Books in operation at present? Treat these books like a normal donation, or let Joan go through them in October and we will take some of them? The consensus of the Board was that Friends would not participate in the craft fair but would help Joan go through any books in October that Linda wanted to donate to Friends.

Election of Officers. According to MFOL bylaws, officer terms are for one year with a three-year limit, except for Laurie as Treasurer. Tulli as secretary is the only term that is up this year. After discussion, the Board decided to eliminate the three-year limit but renew officers each year. Article III, Section 2, dealing with term limits, will then read as follows: “Officers shall be elected annually at the September meeting by a simple majority of the members present, assuming a quorum is present. The Treasurer will be elected for a three-year term, which can be renewed.” Miriam moved to make this change, which was seconded by Laurie. All approved. The new slate of MFOL officers is as follows: Anne as President, Koko as First Vice President, Amy as Second Vice President, Tulli as Secretary, and Laurie as Treasurer. Motion to approve the officers was made by Ilga and seconded by Laurie. All approved.

11. Adjourn 1:45.

Next meeting: October 5, 2020; time TBD. (Cancelled)