Nanuet Library Board discusses leaky roof, other issues

Monday night all was quiet at the Nanuet Public Library, all except for a small room where the Board members were holding their monthly meeting. Some of the issues on the table were number and length of term of members on the Library's board.

They looked at the library's charter and the length of the term was changed to five years. Board members discussed the issue of changing the number of board members from five to a range of 5-7.

Board president Paul Corriel asked Library Director Gretchen Bell her thoughts on the issue.

"From your perspective, what would you say would be a comfortable number?" Corriel asked.

"I would say no more than seven, any more would be unwieldy," Bell answered.

Joe Modafferi, accountant to the Board of Trustees, was one of those present that wanted to leave it at five members. 

"The more members you get, the less functional it'll be," Modaferri said. "I would rather say it's five. I wouldn't leave the door open. You can always amend it later."

Bell added a note about other librarys' boards.

"Many of the library boards are five people and I've never heard anybody complain," she said. At the end of the discussion, the decision was made to keep the number at five.

Bell continued on with other issues such as maintanence. The roof over the Children's room is new but leaked during recent heavy storms.

"New roof which leaked … we were told it was the brickwork which needs water proofing and we do not have an estimate as of yet," Bell said to the rest of the Board. "Mr. Valario has done many roofs around the region including this one and he's always fixed problems immediately when there have been leaks."

The Board then moved to the issue of insuring the library.

"Sheldon [Horowitz] goes out to several insurance brokers," said Modafferi. Horowitz deals with insuring the library.

Board Member Ellen Kimmel said that Horowitz needs to "clarify rationale for flood insurance."

Bell wrapped up the meeting by passing around tabletop and fabric samples. The children's room is being updated to create a teen space

"The Children and Teens' furniture has been ordered," she said. The fabric was dark blue and green circles and the tabletop material was navy blue.