Minutes of the Meeting
Fitzwilliam Town Library Board of Trustees
16 June 2020
Present via electronic meeting: Dick Goettle, Beth Lorenz, Pam Troccia, Robin Marra, Patricia Toomey, Brian Doerpholz and Library Director, Kate Thomas.
The Chair of the Board of Trustees has concluded that an emergency has necessitated the meeting be held electronically. The emergency has been determined to exist due to the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by the physical attendance of the Trustees. An electronic notice of the meeting was posted on the Fitzwilliam Library website as well as the Facebook page, with instructions for the public to join the meeting, if interested.
Robin Marra called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m.
The Library Director, Kate Thomas, has asked for guidance for the plan to re-open the Library to the public as the Governor announced the next phase of COVID-19 Re-opening. The Chair, Robin Marra, has called this meeting to review and vote on the reopening plan.
The Fitzwilliam Town Hall will be re-opening on Monday, June 22, 2020 and has provided the plan put in place to provide safe measures for the public and the employees. Kate suggested that the Library also re-open with regular hours on that day and discussed what measures are already in place; puppets and toys have been put away, curbside pick up of material and shelving returns after two days. A plexiglass divider will be installed at the check out desk and two hand sanitizing stations will be put in place, one upon entry to the Library and one at the exit. Masks and gloves will be made available to the public.
Beth Lorenz suggested the entry through the Library entrance and the exit through the front door of the Library, by the porch. Trish Toomey suggested the use of a red/green sign for occupancy for patrons waiting outside. Robin Marra discussed the need for six foot demarcation on the sidewalk and side porch for those patrons who are waiting and also a 15 minute time restriction for patrons to check out books to try to avoid any back up outside the building. Dick Goettle suggested that curbside pick up be continued and encouraged as an option.
The Governor’s re-opening guidelines for libraries states that all staff must wear cloth face coverings, be screened on their wellness, provide alcohol based hand sanitizer to staff and patrons and maintain a distance of 6 feet from each other and patrons. These practices will be put in place at the Library.
Dick Goettle made a motion to approve the re-opening of the Library on Monday, June 22, 2020,at regular hours, with the following restrictions in place:
- Patrons must be masked
- One patron, or family, will be admitted at a time, with a 15-minute time restriction for browsing and check out material
- Patrons will enter the building at the Library entrance and exit the building by the front door at the porch
- Hands will be sanitized upon the entry and exit of the building
- No computers or catalogs will be made available for use
- Social distancing will be maintained outside the building
- Curbside pick-up will be available.
The motion was seconded by Beth Lorenz and approved by verbal roll call vote of Robin Marra, Patricia Toomey, Pam Troccia, Dick Goettle and Beth Lorenz. Kate will make this information available via the Fitzwilliam Newsletter, the Library newsletter and the Library Face Book page.
Pam Troccia made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:24 p.m., motion seconded by Dick Goettle and approved by verbal roll call vote of Robin Marra, Patricia Toomey, Pam Troccia, Dick Goettle and Beth Lorenz
Respectively submitted
Pam Troccia
Secretary