Macon Reporter

Decatur Public Library Board of Trustees met May 23.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Board President: Samantha Carroll Board Members: Sofia Xethalis, Susan Avery, Karl Coleman, Anay Hunt, Alana Banks, Shelli Brunner, Jecobie Jones

Present: Samantha Carroll

Karl Coleman via zoom

Jecobie Jones via zoom

Susan Avery

Alana Banks – via zoom and in person

Sofia Xethalis

Anay Hunt

Shelli Brunner

Absent:

Staff: Rick Meyer, City Librarian

Michelle Whitehead

Alissa Henkel

Jessica Hill

Guests: 15-minute time period for citizens to appear and express their views before the Decatur Public Library Board. Limit of 3 minutes per speaker; total of 15 minutes. No immediate response will be given by the Library Trustees or Library staff members.

Call to Order: Samantha Carroll called the meeting to order at 4:54 pm.

Consent Agenda (Approval of Agenda; Approval of April 21, 2022 Regular Meeting Minutes) (Action) Ms. Carroll asked the Board if there were any objections to Mr. Jones Mr. Coleman participating via zoom. No objections. Ms. Carroll requested a motion to approve the agenda and the minutes. Ms. Xethalis made a motion to approve the consent agenda and the April 21, 2022 minutes as presented, seconded by Ms. Brunner. All in favor. The motion was adopted.

Public comments: none

Written Communications from the Public: none

City Librarian’s Report (Discussion) Mr. Meyer reported that April was slightly less active than March of 2022. Jessica Hill, Community Resource Coordinator will give a report. Mr. Meyer reported on interlibrary loans. Ms. Carroll requested attendance numbers for the live IHLS program. Mr. Meyer will follow up with her.

Division Head Reports (Discussion)

Alissa Henkel, Head of Programs, Resources, and Services reported on the Summer Reading Program kick-off on June 4. Alix Frazier is organizing this again. We are hoping for 1,000 attendees. The Library has more Children’s programming now than we did pre pandemic.

Jessica Hill, Community Resource Coordinator reported on the quantity of people she serves at the Library, the type of patron communication she provides, and amount of mental health and substance abuse issues that she handles.

Rebecca Damptz, Head of Archives and Special Collections reported on in-depth research being provided. One of the requests was from Harvard University looking for information on Americana Nursing Home. We were successful in providing them with the data they needed. In August we are getting our first library studies practicum student from the University of Illinois. She will be with us for 100 hours, through December. Her goal is to learn how to operate a small archive. Also, we just finished up with our Decatur High School intern. We will continue to participate in this program with DPS again next year.

Reports of Committees:

A. Personnel, Policy, & Public Relations Committee -Samantha Carroll

a. Personnel Update (Discussion) Tye Pemberton is in his 3rd week of employment here at the Library. Linda Wayne just announced her retirement effective June 1, 2022. Her position will be posted in-house first. There is a possible part-time position that will be filled from outside The Library.

b. Materials Challenge (Discussion) The person has not filed a challenge yet. Mr. Meyer has already responded to all of the questions that were asked by the group.

c. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Discussion) Alana has been reaching out to DeEtta Jones. A report to follow. Carol Ziese is the staff liaison and she will report to Rick on May 20.

d. City Librarian Annual Review (Discussion) Ms. Carroll requested the Board members to send their evaluations for the City Librarian to Mr. Coleman.

e. Remote Work Policy (Action) This had been tabled. Mr. Meyer will follow up with the City Risk Manager again to see if they established the guidelines.

f. Adult Computer Use and Internet Access Policy (Action) We omitted the first sentence, of the second paragraph. The committee is recommending to remove the sentence so anyone can access the computers. Ms. Carroll requested a motion to approve the policy with changes. Ms. Brunner made a motion to approve the policy, seconded by Mr. Coleman. All in favor. The motion was adopted.

g. Library Use Guidelines (Action) The policy concern was about patrons sleeping on library property. The committee recommended we do a wellness check for those who appear to be sleeping vs. kicking them out of The Library. The soft checks seem to be working well. This was tabled.

h. Continuing Education and Travel Policy (Discussion) Guidelines need to be set to decide who goes to the conferences. This policy also includes the Board. Alissa and one other librarian will go to Washington, DC, June 24 to 28. This was tabled.

B. Finance and Properties Committee – Sofia Xethalis

a. Capital Needs (Discussion) Ms.Xethalis discussed the grass area is still not completely filled in.

i. Ms. Banks arrived to the meeting at 5:07 pm.

b. April 2022 Check Register (Action) Ms. Xethalis made a motion to approve the check register, Ms. Avery seconded the motion. Ms. Xethalis requested a roll call vote, Ms. Brunner yes, Ms. Avery yes, Ms. Hunt yes, Mr. Jones yes, Mr. Coleman yes, Ms. Banks, yes, Ms. Xethalis, yes, Ms. Carroll yes. The motion was adopted.

c. April 2022 Budget Actuals and Projections (Discussion) Mr. Meyer stated that The Library has collected 48% of our revenue. We are on track with personnel costs. The Cantoni fund is set up to only spend the interest. I will contact our attorney to get that changed so we can spend the funds. This will cost approximately 15 hundred and 3 thousand dollars in legal fees to get that changed. We are on a pace to collect more than what we expected in revenue this year from PPRT. This will put us in a good position. Our medical costs are higher than expected.

d. Securitas Proposal (Action) Ms. Xethalis discussed the proposal that was given. We are waiting to get more information from the city for off-duty sheriff deputies to be here part time. This was tabled.

e. Shelving/Furniture Budget (Action) Ms. Xethalis opened discussion about purchasing new shelving and furniture. Ms. Xethalis made a motion to ask the City council to add another 250 thousand dollars to The Library capital fund, Ms. Banks seconded the motion. Ms. Brunner expressed concern about the height of the shelving. Mr. Meyer mentioned there is grant money that could be used for furniture next year. Mr. Meyer mentioned having the architects come to the next Board meeting to discuss the options. Ms. Carroll requested a roll call vote. Ms. Xethalis, yes, Ms. Brunner, yes, Ms Avery, yes, Ms. Hunt, yes, Ms. Banks, yes, Mr. Coleman, yes, Mr. Jones, yes, and Ms. Carroll, yes. The sling back chairs that we have are worth about 4 thousand dollars each. We can put them up for public auction to raise money. Mr. Meyer stated, if they are valued at over 1 thousand a piece, then they have to put on auction.

C. Foundation – Rick Meyer

a. Annual Appeal Update - Mr. Meyer no update.

D. Friends of the Library – Rick Meyer

a. May 12 Meeting - Mr. Meyer reported that they funded everything the Library asked for. The build-out for Work Force Investment is moving forward. FOL have moved some of their books from the Book Sale location they were using. FOL will eventually move downstairs once Work Force Investment gets settled upstairs. The next FOL meeting is on June 9, and Ms. Banks will attend to represent the Board. Ms. Hunt is assigned in July 14, Ms. Brunner in August 11, and Mr. Jones on September 8.

E. Illinois Heartland Library System – Rick Meyer discussed the Share Mobile App

Old Business

A. Friends of the Library Relocation (Discussion) Mr. Meyer covered this topic.

B. Open Trustee Seat (Discussion) Mr. Meyer stated Jeff Concienne will be nominated to be the next chair of the Board. He will be invited to attend the next Board meeting in June and confirmed June 20.

New Business

A. Other (Discussion)

Adjournment

Ms. Carroll requested a motion to adjourn at 6:05 p.m. Ms. Xethalis made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Ms. Banks. All in favor. The motion was adopted.

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