FOCPL Meeting of the Board Minutes May 14, 2014
Present: Tommy McNeil, Laura Simmons, Marcia Cameron, Linda DiGangi, Lori-Anne Shapiro, Tori Williams, Bill Barrows Ex-Officio: Andrea Tullos Absent: Mark Smith, Chris Holaday
Call to Order: at 6:05pm
Review of Agenda: Tommy McNeil reported that Treasurer Mark Smith had to be away on business and could not attend this evening’s Monthly FOCPL Board Meeting; therefore, he requested that the Financial Report be tabled until 2nd Wednesday June Meeting (June 11th). Laura Simmons moved to table Report, Marcia Cameron seconded Motion, unanimous Vote by Board to approve Motion.
Minutes of April 2014 Meeting: April Minutes provided by Andrea Tullos were reviewed; motion made by Laura Simmons and seconded by Bill Barrows to approve April Minutes, unanimous vote in favor.
Treasurer’s Report, including Paver’s Report: see above.
Book Consignment (bookconsgnment.com): Linda DeGangi reported a profit of $1600. from the Book Sale weekend. Marcia reported that Book Consignment.com has been great for the group, with an additional $760. in profit to date, with seven more weeks remaining in current period. Everyone agreed this appears to be a worthwhile endeavor without a negative impact on the results of the semi-annual FOCPL book sale (see report below).
Semi-Annual Book Sale Weekend of April 30th: 1) Various FOCPL Board members reported many positive experiences related to the Book Sale. Kudos went out especially to the Marketing Team Erin Hils Shepherd, Chris Holaday, Bill Barrows, and the OCPL volunteers who put the word out to the schools! Final tally for the sale was $1613.80. Of note, there were a few new memberships sold during the book sale, and lots of new membership forms distributed!
2) Tommy McNeil requested that Secretary Lori-Anne Shapiro send thank you notes by email, cc’d to him, to these new members and to Erin Hils Shepherd for her contribution. 3) A suggestion was made to sell OCPL cloth bags for people to use for shopping at future Book Sales; Andrea Tullos mentioned such bags already exist and are being used with the DIY check-out. The contact person re these bags is OCPL Communications Specialist Erin Hils. 4) It was mentioned that bookends were sold at the Semi-Annual Book Sale on Sunday. At the meeting it was discussed to begin selling them at the ongoing book sale.
5) Andrea Tullos reported the Kindles are coming in however the old ones are not yet ready to go out.
On-going Book Sale, Marcia: no significant concerns noted this month
OCPL Report: Andrea Tullos 1) Request for Funds: Andrea distributed a written Memorandum regarding a Request for Funds from Lucinda Munger to FOCPL Board of Directors for $1120. to satisfy the costs of consulting services from Freelon, Inc., a library design and architecture firm in Durham that helped OCPL with a possible future remodel. The need for this remodel was identified in the larger County Space Needs Study and 2012 Community Needs Assessment. The primary concerns behind this remodel plan relate to the significant negative impact of the Front Desk as part of the entranceway; the continued problems of drainage and wash-out in the front of the building, causing significant mildew to the Friends brick pavers in the sidewalk; and, the demand on resources and need for greatest efficiency of space use to respond to the anticipated population growth in the county, particularly in the Hillsborough area. The reason the funds are needed to satisfy the Freelon, Inc invoice relates to reallocated monies ($1700.) spent on the entrance enhancement project that included re-grading the front of the building, adding a retaining wall, and generally improving the aesthetics of the area with new plants and landscaping materials.
Marcia Cameron moved to approve the $1120. expenditure, Linda DiGangi seconded the Motion, and it was passed by the Board unanimously.
2) June event: Andrea Tullos reported on a request made to sponsor an Author Reading and Book Signing event on June 14th supporting Sally Ann Webb McPherson, author of Warm Firesides and Wide Porches: Remembering the 1940’s in an Authentic Southern Town. This author is providing a similar event on June 4th at the Burwell School, and would appreciate a venue at OCPL to further promote her new novel. After extensive discussion by the Board on the issues related to sponsoring this event and possible dates, a unanimous decision was made for FOCPL to sponsor it on Monday, June 16th, and not on June 14th as originally proposed.
Tommy McNeil recommended that a cake be provided by the FOCPL, and promptly pulled out his smartphone to show off a photo of a cake provided by the author, Barbara Claypole White, at a similar Reading and Book Signing event at OCPL; he was particularly impressed by the creative use of an image of a book as part of the icing on the cake! The Board discussed the issues of providing a cake, and ultimately decided it would be a good idea for many reasons.
3) Summer Reading Kick-Off Event: on June 14th from 10am to 2pm will be a variety of activities (see website for further details) and at 4-6pm there will be an Author Talk and Book Signing: The Making of a Southern Democracy, by Tom Eamon. We will also have a Membership Table set up outside the Library from 10am-2pm, which Tommy McNeil has agreed to set up and keep running.
Hot Tin Roof Fundraiser, May 9th, Monday, 5-7pm: 1) Andrea Tullos reviewed again the method by which the venue raises funds for organizations, and stressed the need for more publicity. She made flyers available this evening for distribution; Lori agreed to distribute to shops and restaurants in Hillsborough’s West End; Tori, Marcia & Laura agreed to distribute on Churton St and Beckett’s Ridge community; everyone agreed to send flyers as email attachments to their respective mailing lists of friends and associates. 2) Andrea also noted the items thus far donated for food and for Raffle. 3) other duties were assigned as needed related to the Fundraiser, and Board Members were encouraged to attend.
Committee Reports: Laura Simmons has the list, and agreed to up-date who has volunteered to be on which committee.
FOCPL Mail: mail was distributed from the post office box; reviewed, where necessary.
Friends Membership: Discussed issues of (a) handling and processing of membership applications; (b) tracking expirations & contacting members for renewals; and, (c) confirming receipt of membership applications & acknowledgements/recognition of. Tommy McNeil plans to spend time with Erin Hils Shepherd to discuss tracking and expirations. Andrea Tullos mentioned that the zip drive with all the memberships is located in the FOCPL Room. The discussion of Friends’ Memberships then segued into the possibility of utilizing current technology related to Google Drop Box. Tommy McNeil agreed to explore this possibility further.
As President, Tommy feels very strongly that the goals of the current FOCPL Board are still very much in transition, that he feels optimistic that forward progress is underway, and that the most important priority is our connection with stakeholders. Lori-Anne suggested that Tommy might consider writing an article entitled “A Letter from the President” for the next Friends’ Matters Newsletter; he endorsed this idea. Lori-Anne also suggested the idea of FOCPL hosting a Friends Appreciation Event; Andrea Tullos and Tommy McNeil were both enthusiastic about this idea, and agreed that a date in mid-September would be ideal.
Next Board Meeting: June 11, 2014
Adjournment: At 7:20pm a motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn! Everyone agreed that tonight’s meeting was very content-intensive!
