Trustees review Friends group progress, scholarship rubric and policy updates

Trustees received updates on three governance and fundraising matters: Friends of the Library nonprofit status, the scholarship-review rubric and comprehensive policy drafts.

Friends volunteers reported preliminary work to reinstate articles of incorporation with the Massachusetts Secretary of State and to check IRS filing status; an accountant volunteer is assisting and trustees said an active friends group could be possible early next year if filings can be reinstated. The trustees were told that if the group must start over it will take longer.

On scholarships, trustees supported distributing the rubric with the application and compiling individual trustee rubric scores in advance to speed selection discussions. Trustees planned to finalize the rubric in December to meet January application timelines.

On policies, trustees completed a virtual review session and plan to circulate the draft policies for trustee review; several trustees requested legal counsel review of selected elements and recommended marking draft policies as "pending legal review" until counsel completes its review.