Library board hires firm to pursue parking solutions, updates bylaws

By NEAL RENTZ

The Pound Ridge Library Board of Trustees has taken a step that could result in a proposal for an expansion of the parking lot.

The board voted unanimously March 18 to pay $3,900 to a firm to represent the library before the planning board.

Board President Valerie Nelson said she had recently spoken with representatives of Insite Engineering, Surveying & Landscape Architecture which has provided consulting and engineering services and was recommended by members of the Pound Ridge Planning Board. Nelson said she wants information previously provided to the planning board, including the soil and traffic studies to be used if the library board decides to go forward with a parking lot proposal and Insite agreed.

“I was really impressed with the conversation,” Nelson said.

One plan would be to provide a driveway for a neighbor of the library and another proposal from Insite would not include the driveway, Nelson said.

Nelson told Insite that her estimate of a parking lot expansion would be between $300,000 and $500,000 and the firm said “that was a very reasonable range.”

Board bylaws changed

Also at this week’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to make three changes to its bylaws. The effort to revise the bylaws was recently conducted by the board’s Governance/Legal Committee, chaired by trustee Richard Levan and member Lexie Gallo-Cook.

Levan said he and Gallo-Cook, “met to do a total review of the bylaws. They did not require a tremendous update.”

However, the committee did make three changes, Levan said.  “The first thing we did was we cleaned up the budget approval process.”  

The revised language for the budget approval process from the committee states that the final budget must be approved no later than the August regular board of trustees meeting, and if there is a spending increase the spending plan will be put up for a public vote. The budget will be filed with the town clerk no later than Oct. 1. “We’ve clarified that,” Levan said.

Levan said another change proposed by the committee is in the meetings section. Levan said his committee is recommending that a board member attend meetings in person. “That’s subject to debate,” he said. 

The current meetings bylaws state that a trustee could also attend meetings by telephone or on video to have their votes counted.

Gallo-Cook noted that in July 2026 the state law allowing members of boards to participate in meetings via video is set to expire. If the library board continued to allow members to attend meetings via video it still would have to change the bylaws in two years, she noted.

Board President Valerie Nelson said for a trustee’s vote to count or be part of the member quorum count they would have to be in person based on the potential state law change and the committee’s proposal to change the current rule.

Levan said his committee is in favor of in-person meeting attendance for board members “for technology reasons and community-based reasons.”

Levan said another rule the committee reviewed for potential change is in the acceptable absence provision. Currently, if a library trustee has three unexcused absences from consecutive meetings that person can be removed from office. 

“We felt it was important to specify what those were,” Levan said.

In a proposed new chapter, created by Library Director Jennifer Coulter, allowable absences from board meetings would include medical, family, weather, work or a legal commitment, Lavan said.

Sensory Room flooding

Also at the meeting, Coulter said there had been some flooding in the new Sensory Room, following heavy rain March 5.

Library staff cleaned the room and took out wet items, including flooring and rugs, to dry, Coulter said, adding a dehumidifier was put in operation. 

“There doesn’t appear to be any noticeable damage,” she said. 

Coulter said it is not known how the water entered the room. She said she would come back to the board with a proposal to prevent water from entering the room at a later date.