Kankakee Times

The Kankakee Public Library Board of Trustees met Sept. 20 to hire part-time staff members.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the board:

The board meets every third Tuesday of the month.

Kankakee Public Library Sept 20, 2016 Board Meeting Minutes

The meeting of the Kankakee Public Library Board of Trustees met as scheduled at 5:35 p.m.

ROLL CALL Present: Bruce Conway, Bob deOliveira, Dr. Steven Epstein, Mike Gall, Matt Olszewski, Liz Gernon-Lipofski, Sheila Donahue-Kramer and Dr. Beth Patrick-Trippel.

Absent: Alia Lockett-Faulkner.

Also present were: Stephen Bertrand, Library Director and Allison Beasley, Assistant Director.

Review of Minutes:

The August 2016 minutes were reviewed. Dr. Epstein motioned to approve the minutes and Ms. Gernon-Lipofski seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Public Comment:

Tyler McMahon of Limelight Theatre Group asked for permission to schedule performances of “Peter and the Starcatcher” June 16-18, 2017. The board all thought this was a good idea.

Communications:

Mr. Bertrand said the public restroom issues have all improved since the locks have been installed on the first floor restrooms. Mr. Bertrand said the State of Illinois has paid checks but has declined subsequent invoices because the City of Kankakee owes them unemployment payments.

Bills and Invoices:

The bills and invoices from August were reviewed. Dr. Epstein asked why the book titles on the Baker & Taylor checks that were written showed a very high amount for just one or two book titles. Mr. Bertrand explained Ms. Cline only lists the first two book titles for searching purposes on the list of checks and includes “et al” after to indicate these are just two of the book titles, but there were many more books purchased. Mr. deOliveira asked what kind of LGBT collection the library has. Mr. Bertrand told him it was a somewhat sizeable collection and Ms. Beasley said we are always looking for recommendations. Dr. Epstein motioned to approve the reports and Mr. Conway seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Financial Report:

Dr. Epstein asked why the 209 Public Relations budget line was unusually high. Mr. Bertrand and Ms. Beasley explained it was due to the recent author visit of Matt de la Pena sponsored by the Friends of the Library and should be adjusted for the next board meeting.

Director’s Report:

Personnel: Two part-time staff members, Susanne Bass and Judy Seaton, were hired for Circulation.

Building and Grounds: Dr. Epstein said there were weeds in front of the handicap parking spots in the Executive Centre parking lot. Mr. Bertrand said he would pass that on to Heritage Development. Mr. Bertrand said two trees were going to be planted in memory of Ms. Beasley’s parents who both passed away this year and also Mr. Yohnka’s father who also passed away this year. The cost for these trees will be shared by the library, the City of Kankakee and Kankakee Development Corporation (KDC). Mr. Olszewski suggested we pay our part of this from the Building Fund and not the Oberlin Fund. Mr. Bertrand questioned the value of maintaining the Building Fund at all. Mr. Bertrand said he would speak with Mr. Chris Bohlen, City attorney on this matter.

Policies: There are no new policy recommendations for this month.