Meeting Minutes 8/11

Meeting Minutes
Hatfield Public Library Building Committee
Dickinson Memorial Hall
11 August 2010

Present: Jim Phaneuf, Bryan Nicholas, Dodie Gaudet, Mary Williams, Harold Green, Emi Estelle (library intern), Stephen Hale (architect) and Eliza Langhans (librarian and recording secretary)

Call to Order: The meeting commenced at 6:35PM.

Committee Membership Status Updates: Jim has been confirmed as a member. We are still short two members.

Approval of Minutes: MOVED, SECONDED, APPROVED.

Grant Application Status:

o MBLC - We have not been working on the MBLC (Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners) grant because all our focus has been on the CPC (Community Preservation Council) grant. Eliza will bring the Letter of Intent to next month’s meeting since that is due in October.
o CPC - Eliza, Dodie, Emi and Harold completed a draft of the CPC grant to present to the CPC at their next meeting, believed to be the 25th of August. MOVED, SECONDED, APPROVED: Motion to approve this draft subject to editorial review. Eliza notes that we will also need to get Letters of Support for the grant. She will solicit Letters of Support from the Friends, the Church and Thomas Carroll. Harold will solicit letters from the Board of Selectman, the Historical Commission, State Rep Kocut and Senator Rosenberg. We should also include some photos of the library. Stephen has photos on file and will send Eliza copies, including photos of the facade, woodwork, front door, street view and museum.
o USDA - No new work has been done on the USDA grant.
o Other - Emi is working on a list of other possible grants.



Renderings: Stephen presents updated drafts of the renderings and the Committee discusses the changes.

New Open Meeting Law: Eliza distributes copies of the New Meeting Laws, to be signed by Committee members. Harold collects the signatures to take to Louise at Town Hall.

Historical Commission/Society:

* Bugs - Evidence of termites remains inconclusive and the situation is being monitored.
* Space - Kathie Gow, Museum Curator, wrote a letter to the Committee expressing concerns about the level of space provided for the Museum in the current schematic design. Several Committee members expressed a desire for more exact information about how many items the museum has and how much space they will need. Members of the Historical Society are working on an inventory of the Museum collection. Eliza suggests that they may need to hire or recruit the services of a museum specialist/consultant, as Kathie mentions in her letter that no one in the Society is qualified to give an accurate assessment. Harold suggests that they divide the inventory into (1) items that will be on display all the time, (2) items that will be on display in rotation (10% of the time), and (3) items that will be archived. Everyone agrees that we need to address these concerns with the Historical Society and make appropriate changes to the schematic design. Dodie will draft a written response to Kathie’s letter with input from Eliza.



Next Meeting: September 8th, 2010 at 6:30 in the Library