Morrill Memorial and Harris Library Investment Committee

Minutes of May 22, 2018 Meeting

 

Present:  Cindy Stableford, Betsy Ruml, Gretchen Rittenhouse, John Hawkins, Rachel Kurland

 

 

Minutes of the 1/28/18 meeting were approved.

 

Rachel reported for the Trustees:

1.     The Trustees do not need to take a distribution from the endowment this year.  They have reviewed their long-term needs and feel that they have a good handle on upcoming capital needs and sufficient funds to deal with identified needs. Spending is on par with last year and on budget. The accumulated amount available for distribution ($14,048) will remain in the endowment so that it can be invested.  The Committee will keep a record of funds available for distribution, but the funds do not need to be kept in a separate account.

2.     Rachel asked if there were any restrictions on the use of the endowment income – other than the restricted funds, no.

3.     Rachel also clarified that while the Library is a successful fundraiser, they are using what they take in on an annual basis (including contributions from the Friends) for Library operations and programs.  She also noted that the Trustees feel that reserve levels are at an appropriate level for maintaining an old building.

 

Cindy reported for the Friends:

1.     The Friends approved donating 5% of checking account balance to the Library - $800 to cash account.

2.     Denise Cote joined Friends Board.

3.     Book Sale prep ongoing.

4.     Rachel has maximized return on the sale of special or valuable books donated to the Library book sale, so the Friends have authorized her to use the funds to purchase tents for use during the sale.

5.     Nellie Pennington audited the last 4 years of Friends and Investment Committee statements and says that all is in great shape as of FYE 2017.

 

Report from the Chair (Cindy):

1.     Transferred $36,000 from Bond Index to Short-term Bond Index fund as per our agreement at the January meeting.

 

Betsy reviewed the portfolio.

1)   Disbursed donor-restricted funds and market down a bit, so balance is currently below level for distribution.

2)   $310,227 in Jan 18, $311,461.61 as of 5/21/18 so portfolio value has remained pretty flat.

3)   Currently 68% equity (stocks and REITS)/32% FI.  Our target allocation is 65/35 but after discussion we agreed to leave the allocation and cash balances unchanged.

4)   Cash balance is $15,489; will be just over $16k after Friends contribution.

 

David Webb has migrated Friends’ documents to Google Docs, which has been convenient.  The Committee agreed that centralizing documents is a good idea but prefers to use Dropbox, which Cindy will set up.

 

The meeting was adjourned.  Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at 9AM at the Library.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Gretchen Rittenhouse

Secretary