Bill Library

718 Colonel Ledyard Highway

Ledyard, Connecticut 06339

TOWN OF LEDYARD

Library Commission

Meeting Minutes

Gales Ferry Library

18 Hurlbutt Road

Gales Ferry, Connecticut 06335

Chair

John Bolduc

Regular Meeting

7:00 PM

Monday, April 20, 2026

Bill Library

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman John Bolduc called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

II.

ROLL CALL

In addition, the following were present:

Stacey Burt - Assistant Librarian 1, Youth Services

Carmen Garcia-Irizarry - Town Council Liaison

Chairman John Bolduc

Present

Vice Chair Rolf Racich

Commissioner Peter Diette

Commissioner Wendy Hellekson

Commissioner Gillian Thorne

Commissioner Cynthia Wright

Treasurer Ralph Hightower

Recording Secretary Ellin Grenger

Commissioner Elizabeth Rumery

Excused

III.

IV.

RESIDENTS & PROPERTY OWNERS COMMENTS

None.

MEMBER COMMENTS

A motion was made by Commissioner Diette, seconded by Commissioner Wright, that this be

Approved and so declared. The motion carried by the following vote:

Motion to approve the addition of Volunteer and Homebound Services forms to the Agenda

under New Business.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Peter Diette

RESULT:

MOVER:

Cynthia Wright

SECONDER:

Bolduc Racich Diette Hellekson Thorne Wright

Hightower Grenger Rumery

AYE

EXCUSED

REPORTS

Treasurer’s Report

John went through the Treasurer's report.

Director’s Report

Budget:

· Jessa presented the budget to the council on March 12 and it went well. The council

asked a lot of questions, specifically about LION, ebooks, personnel/pages, and the

operating line. Jessa did a fantastic job of answering all of their questions. What was

supposed to be a 15-minute conversation turned into 40 minutes. We’re very lucky to

have Jessa at the helm, and we’re hopeful that the council will not change what the

mayor put forth in his budget.

Director Information:

· Jessa is home on maternity leave and doing well. She and Dominic are happy and

healthy, and she’s been logging in occasionally to catch up on and respond to emails as

needed. Stacey, Lyndsey, and Matt are handling everything in the meantime, and we’re

happy to say that things are going very smoothly with library staff and patrons.

Library News:

· March was a very busy month for the library and it was a rousing success! The Friends

held a pie sale and the pies sold out in under an hour! FOLL raised over $900 between

the pies and the raffle. Kudos to Jackie Bacon for all of her dedication and hard work,

and FOLL is excited to do it again next year.

· The Seed Library opened on March 18 and it’s been going well so far. We have already

given out over 600 seed packets between the two libraries! This was also the day

Lyndsey had her Etiquette & Elegance program with the Barnes Museum. There was a

turnout of 20 people, and all attendees said that they really enjoyed it. She’s hoping to

have them back again sometime in the future.

· Fly Tying is a weekly series organized by Matt started on March 11. It continues to be an

ongoing success. There are between 10 - 13 people who attend that each week.

· Stacey had two big programs on back-to-back Saturdays that were a huge hit! First was

the whale program that was made possible with help from a grant from the Janet Barnett

Legacy Project. There were around 100 people who were able to see the whale, interact

with the educators from the Mystic Seaport, and visit all of the other stations we had for

the event. It took a lot of work from library staff to make this event successful, and we’re

really pleased with how it went. The other event was an Inside Petting Zoo with lots of

bunnies, a goat, and a tortoise. There were 131 people who attended and once again staff

help was invaluable in making the event go well. These programs along with our very

popular storytimes and other events means that youth programming is going like

gangbusters!

· We are once again participating in the Passport to CT Libraries program. Passport to CT

Libraries is a month-long program that encourages patrons to visit as many participating

public libraries as possible. This year, there are 171 participating libraries! Patrons who

visit the library will have a “passport” that each library will stamp (or sticker! We’re

stamping). Patrons are eligible to enter a raffle to win a prize as long as they get stamps

from 5 libraries. The patrons who visit the most libraries are also entered under their own

category.

· Erica, our amazing head of tech services, is doing a fantastic job getting books cataloged

quickly while also handling administrative tasks like putting together our monthly

newsletter. One weekend the Laura and Beth got 75 items ready for the shelves! We were

scrambling to find room and shift collections. Erica also cataloged the new switch games

and the youth classics collections that are now available at each library.

· And I just have to highlight the audiobook statistics. I know we’ve told you that the Yoto

players and cards were recently added and they have been a huge hit. They are cataloged

as audiobooks. Our Youth audiobook stats are as follows:

· December 2025: 8 Circulations

January 2026: 6 Circulations

February 2026 (including Yoto Beta-testing): 20 Circulations

March 2026: 229 Circulations! This is a 1045% increase over February, and a

3717% increase from January before Yoto beta-testing!

· Overall, March has been our busiest months in a while! A huge thank you to our staff for

all of their hard work and dedication!

Investment Working Group

John discussed the April 14 working group meeting results.

Friends of Ledyard Library

No report.

VI.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Library Commission Meeting Minutes Mar. 16, 2026

MOTION to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of March 16, 2026.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Gillian Thorne

RESULT:

MOVER:

Wendy Hellekson

SECONDER:

Bolduc Racich Diette Hellekson Thorne Wright

Hightower Grenger Rumery

AYE

EXCUSED

VII. OLD BUSINESS

Any Old Business proper to come before the Committee

None.

VIII. NEW BUSINESS

Any New Business proper to come before the Committee

Motion to approve the Volunteer Application form.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Rolf Racich

RESULT:

MOVER:

Wendy Hellekson

SECONDER:

Bolduc Racich Diette Hellekson Thorne Wright

Hightower Grenger Rumery

AYE

EXCUSED

Motion to approve the Homebound Services form.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Peter Diette

RESULT:

MOVER:

Cynthia Wright

SECONDER:

Bolduc Racich Diette Hellekson Thorne Wright

Hightower Grenger Rumery

AYE

EXCUSED

IX.

NEXT MEETING

Next Meeting: May 18, 2026 at the Gales Ferry Community Center at 7:00 p.m.

ADJOURNMENT

Mr. Racich moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded

by Ms. Thorne.

The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

VOTE: 6-0 Approved and so declared

Respectively Submitted,

_______________________________

Chairman John Bolduc

Library Commission

DISCLAIMER: Although we try to be timely and accurate these are not official records of the

Town.