STRONG — Selectmen approved several plans Tuesday night that will provide better service to residents, including new library hours.

The board approved Library Director Cheryl McCleery’s request to start a trial run of new hours of noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays from Nov. 5 to Dec. 17.

“This will be a trial run to see if the community and the library patrons will use this time,” McCleery said.

McCleery will offer a story time for young children from 12:30 to 1 p.m., providing a book, a snack and a coloring sheet. She said she hopes to see more visitors on Thursdays to use computers, check out a wide selection of books, audiobooks, and movies, or simply relax and listen to the story.

On Tuesdays, library hours will be from 1 to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Selectmen agreed they didn’t want to replace employee Emily O’Donnell, who has cared for the town’s building and grounds for 12 years.

O’Donnell and her husband, Jeff, have moved to Farmington, so O’Donnell said she will not be as available in the winter. Her 16-hour workweek in the winter is very different than the rest of the year, she said. Warm-weather tasks include caring for the public beach and landscaping around the building.

Selectmen agreed to interview an individual recommended by Selectmen Mike Pond and Rodney Cook for winter shoveling and other duties, and have O’Donnell continue her 16-hour workweek in the spring.

Selectmen also decided to review the original job description and update it because many tasks wouldn’t fit into so few hours.

Selectmen agreed to draft a warrant article for the March 2016 town meeting, asking voters to approve using trust fund monies accrued over many years to provide additional care for the several old cemeteries on private property.

The municipality is only obligated to maintain veterans’ graves in the town’s Village Cemetery and old cemeteries on private property. Several of the older private cemeteries have deteriorated and are in poor condition.

Voters at the last town meeting appropriated enough money to start cutting down several large, rotting trees that could have destroyed several headstones in the Taylor Hill cemetery.

Board Chairman Jim Burrill also urged selectmen to begin a review of budgets in cost centers they oversee. The year’s end is fast approaching, he noted, and budget negotiations for the 2015–2016 fiscal year need to start soon.