Kankakee Times

Kankakee Public Library Board of Trustees met Tuesday, Nov. 15.

The board meets every third Tuesday of the month.

Here are the minutes as provided by Kankakee Public Library:

Kankakee Public Library November 15, 2016 Board Meeting Minutes

The meeting of the Kankakee Public Library Board of Trustees met as scheduled at 5:30 p.m.

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

Absent: Dr. Steven Epstein, Liz Gernon-Lipofski and Alia Lockett-Faulkner

Also present were: Stephen Bertrand, Library Director; Allison Beasley, Assistant Director; and Teresa Cline, Business Manager

Review of Minutes:

The October 2016 minutes were reviewed. Ms. Donahue-Kramer motioned to approve the minutes and Mr. deOliveira seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Public Comment:

There was no public comment.

Communications:

Mr. Bertrand presented the October statistics and a budget surplus report. The latter would be discussed further in the budget portion of the meeting. There were also copies of emails between the library and Heritage regarding new concrete work in front of the building and in the reading garden. Finally, there were also Thank You notes to Michael Costanza for some genealogy research, and Melissa Landis, for her participation in PUG (PrairieCat Users Group) Day.

Bills and Invoices:

The bills and invoices from October were reviewed. Mr. deOliveira noted there were still charges to Hobby Lobby, and Mr. Bertrand explained that two of the three charges were made before the previous Board meeting. The third charge was made by a supervisor who had not yet been contacted by administration regarding the Board’s desire that the Library frequent Kankakee businesses when possible. Ms. Donahue-Kramer motioned to approve the bills and invoices and Mr. Conway seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Financial Report:

The library’s accounts were reviewed.

Director’s Report:

Budget: Mr. Bertrand presented the cash flow balance requested by the Board at the previous meeting. After some discussion, is was decided by the Board that the library should maintain a three-month cushion in the General Fund account, in the event that property tax money might be delayed. This left an account surplus of $150,000 for the library to use to update patron services and for building improvements. As this money is non-renewable, it could not be used for ongoing expenses, such as pay raises or additional staff. Mr. Bertrand said he would meet with the supervisors to prepare a “wish list” to present at next month’s meeting.

Mr. Bertrand also proposed some minor changes in the library’s budget. Specifically, he requested adding an income line “Book Sale” to track the sale of weeded books on the first and second floors. This money would then be used for team building and professional development activities for the staff. To this end, he also proposed adding an additional $300 to the 109 Professional Development line. After a brief discussion, Mr. deOliveira motioned to approve both changes, and Mr. Conway seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Personnel: Three staff members, Darnel Davis Jr., Deonta Turner, and Betty Schatz, have left library employment. All three were in Adult Services. Seth Lowery, Kayla Thomas and Brian Noe have been hired in that department.

Building and Grounds: There were further discussions, carried over from the previous month, about the concrete repair in the Spring. Ms. Beasley provided the Board with the email from Heritage Development regarding their view on how the costs would be allocated. This discussion will continue into the future, as there are questions about what should constitute capital expenses that should not be included in the Common Area Maintenance payment at the end of the year.

Mr. Bertrand also informed the Board that there were some very preliminary talks involving subletting the fourth floor. He will update the Board on this if the plans progress.

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

Unfinished Business:

There was no unfinished business.

New Business:

There was no new business.

Executive Session:

Executive session was not needed.

There being no additional business, Dr. Patrick-Trippel moved to adjourn; Mr. deOliveira seconded and the meeting ended at 6:34 p.m.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Teresa Cline.