East Central Reporter

City of Charleston Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees met Aug. 2.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

1. Call to Order

2. Roll call

Banks__x_ Cunningham__x_ Elser_x__ Looby_x__Meadows___ Monahan___ Ricciardi_x__ Smallhorn___ 3. Public Comment: none

4. Board President’s Comments: none

5. Omnibus Agenda

A. Approval of the June 7, 2021 Board Meeting Minutes

B. Acceptance of Director’s Report

C. Acceptance of Statistics Report

D. Acceptance of IT Report

E. Acceptance of Financial Reports- provided at the meeting

F. Approval of the bills payable- provided at the meeting

Motion to approve: __CC__ Seconded: __LB__

Banks__x_ Cunningham__x_ Elser__x Looby__x_Meadows___ Monahan___ Ricciardi_x__ Smallhorn___ Our first board meeting in person happened tonight.

Chris: The last few months have been busy. Summer read just concluded with over 400 people, 5000 hours read. More than last year, but less than a traditional year. Story time at Kiwanis park went well and will continue.

Staff have completed a lot of training with the IL broadband ready program. Chris talked about ideas for digital literacy programming, such as computer basics classes.

Worked on the IL public library annual report, which is the major part of our per capita grant. We should get $32,000 this year.

We've had a lot of building issues this month. Leak was happening over the atrium but it was fixed, the same spot as last time. We are missing a light pole. Semi-truck drove over it. Waiting for the insurance company to determine the cost and who will pay for it.

The HVAC system continues to not work properly even with new parts and repairs. Energy consults through Ameren contacted us because we are using more power than previous years. Chris is working with them and the HVAC company is working on what components are working/ not working. They discovered that the library does not have proper air flow. HVAC computers are very outdated, which is one of the issues. If our population drops below 20K we could be eligible for some grants to pay for a project like this. Chris is waiting for information from the company on pricing. We are the 3rd largest power consumer of all the city buildings.

Circulation is up as well as computer use. Copier use is down and faxes are up.

Per Capita check should come soon for $32,000. Property taxes are coming in, financially we are doing well. July was an expensive month due to several annual memberships being billed and paid in July.

Full Board Packet available upon request at the service desk.

Charleston Carnegie Public Library * 712 Sixth St. * Charleston, IL 61920 Phone: 217.345.4913 * Fax 217.348.5616 * www.charlestonlibrary.org

6. Action Item 2021 – 7: Vote to close the Library August 11 and August 12

Motion to approve: __JL__ Seconded: __KE__

Banks_x__ Cunningham__x_ Elser__x_ Looby_x__Meadows___ Monahan___ Ricciardi__x_ Smallhorn___

Book Sale will be August 11 and 12. We have received 1000's of items for the sale. The book sale room is full as well as the reading room. Volunteers have been helping sort and organize books. Chris will bring in all staff to get ready for the sale and use the time to clean out closet areas. He will also use this time for staff training and development. The sale will also include a version of the book tree as a way to fundraise. People will purchase a $10 tag, which puts them into the drawing for prizes which includes various gift certificates for the winners and family centered prizes.

Board approved closing of the library for sale prep

7. Discussion Item

A. Bigger than a Book Sale

B. Masks in the Library

a. There are not a lot of places in our area that require masks. Chris feels there will be pushback. Board decided to require library staff to wear masks when in contact with the public. Staff can be unmasked in private offices. We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust accordingly.

C. American Rescue Plan Act Grants

a. 3 grants are available but they have many regulations/stipulations in place. Anything with computers will require us to be CIPA compliant which means the internet is highly filtered for the safety of children. At this it is not worth pursuing, as it would mean additional costs down the road. Chris is going to look at one that can be used for HVAC repairs.

D. Board Recruitment

E. Next Board Meeting – Monday, September 13, 2021 at 6:30PM.

F. Agenda Building

G. Other?

8. Adjournment 8:00pm

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/36393a01-a438-4f8e-8e34-a5c39ef56b5c/downloads/Minutes%208-2-21.pdf?ver=1632165435581