Goodnow Library Trustees approve FY budget ask, defer policy votes to January

SUDBURY — December 5, 2023 — Goodnow Library Trustees approve FY budget ask with staff salaries as top priority. All six trustees voted unanimously on December 5 to endorse the package Library Director Esme will carry into her budget meeting with the town manager next week, anchored by a salary comparison slide showing Goodnow's MLS-credentialed pay below peer towns including Concord. Operating priorities also include a part-time program and event coordinator and conversion of the local history librarian to full time; capital items include an EV charging station that trustees agreed could move as a Town Meeting article if the town manager declines to fund it. The library is 44 percent through the fiscal year with salaries at 40 percent. Trustees deferred votes on three draft policies — acceptable behavior, a new photography and filming policy, and safety for children — to January 2, agreeing to add limited-public-forum language and to drop a "consent of other patrons" clause from the photography draft because, one trustee said, "staff who are equipped to deal in the moment is going to be your most effective, powerful tool."