NOBLE EXECUTIVE BOARD

MINUTES OF

September 5, 2002

In Attendance: Deborah Abraham, Marjorie Hill-Devine, Tome Cesarz, Doug Rendell, Ron Gagnon, Mary Rose Quinn, Linda Hummel-Shea, Kimberly Lynn.

Call to order: Deborah Abraham called the meeting to order at 2:05pm.

Executive Director's Report:

Ron Gagnon distributed a proposed meeting schedule for the Board to review.

Elizabeth Thomson has returned to NOBLE after spending the summer in China.

Ron worked with Rob Maier and Maureen Killoran from the MBLC to contact legislators in an effort to get state funding restored. Ron spoke at the August meeting of the Board of Library Commissioners on the impact of the state budget cuts on networks. The Commissioners will vote the budget cuts this month.

Minuteman and CLAMS have both selected Innovative. CLAMS went online this week. Minuteman is still in negotiations. Elizabeth and Ron will be attending Innovative's Consortium Partners meeting in California at the end of the month. NOBLE is beta testing the collection statistics module.

NOBLE's Technology Plan expired June 30. Ron has worked up a draft of the one-year plan to secure e-rate funding this fiscal year.

C.N.A. is NOBLE's new insurance company for our director and officer policy since Legion was taken over by the state of Pennsylvania for being in financial difficulty. Worker's comp insurance changed to Kemper because Eastern Casualty stopped insuring for worker's comp in Massachusetts.

A NOBLE 101 session is scheduled for Tuesday for new staff members.

Discussion of III and Minuteman loan periods ensued. Ron noted that Innovative offered the option of having one loan policy instead of the loaning rules of the lending library. This issue may be worth revisiting.

FY03 Budget Revisions and FY04 Budget Discussion

Ron reviewed the proposed FY03 budget revisions.. The cuts in the MBLC's 9506 account represent more than a 20% cut in NOBLE's operating budget. NOBLE will have to make up $100,000 in FY03 and $200,000 in FY04.

Ron presented three versions of the FY04 budget. The 1st version of the FY04 budget did not reflect the anticipated amount that NOBLE will have to pay Verizon. The 3rd version maintained the status quo. The 2nd version was a hybrid that included the CPI +2 formula that has been used in the past, and also included a reduction in the amount that is put into the capital fund.

Marjorie stated that NOBLE assessments should be as close to level-funded as possible during these difficult economic times.

The Board agreed that NOBLE has a superior staff and they should receive raises even in difficult budget years.

The Board agreed that we must always be on the lookout for alternative and creative funding streams.

Marjorie thanked Ron for the work he did preparing and presenting the budget options.

A discussion of all of the points of the proposed 2004 budget ensued. Tom made a motion to reduce the contribution to capital in FY04 in order to reduce library assessments by 1% and increase salaries by 3%. Deborah seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Marjorie made a motion to accept the FY 2004 budget proposal (#2) as amended for presentation at the September Members Meeting. The motion was seconded by Doug and was approved unanimously by the Executive Board.

The meeting adjourned at 3:20pm.

Respectfully submitted by

Kimberly S. Lynn

Secretary