Kankakee Times

Kankakee Public Library Board of Trustees met Aug. 20.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The meeting of the Kankakee Public Library Board of Trustees began at 5:32 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Present: Bruce Conway, Mike Gall, Kent Wade, Geraldine Adams, Gayle Schuldt, Patricia Santoyo-Marin, Ursula Wells

Absent Dr. Beth Patrick-Trippel, Robert de Oliveira

Also present were: Stephen Bertrand, Library Director; Allison Beasley, Assistant Director; Korie Haug, Business

Manager

Review of Minutes: The July 2019 minutes were reviewed. Ms. Schuldt made a motion to approve the minutes and Mr. Wade seconded. The minutes passed unanimously.

Public Comments: There was no public comment.

Communications: Mr. Bertrand relayed to the board that he approved a room waiver request for a community outreach meeting for Spanish speaking residents of Kankakee. July statistics were presented. Mr. Gall asked why the YouTube stats were nearly doubled from last month. Mr. Bertrand explained the John Wayne Gacy talk has been very popular online. The Library has received the tax distribution. The board questioned why they hold some of the allotment back. Mr. Bertrand said he will follow up with Ms. Kubal from the City. The Library received a confirmation letter from the state that PNG would be funded for another year.

Bills and Invoices and Financial Report: The board reviewed the bills and invoices from July. Mr. Gall motioned to approve the bills and Mr. Wade seconded the motion. The board approved the bills and invoices passed unanimously.

Director’s Report: Mr. Bertrand was happy to report we are doing well with our budget. The Library had budgeted more funds than needed in the computer support budget line; there will be a savings of about $15,000.

Ms. Thompson will be hiring a full-timer to replace Ms. James’ full-time position. Ms. James retired from the Library in April so the Library will be under budget in personnel expenses as well. The Kankakee Events Partnership did go over budget for Merchant Street Music Festival by an estimated seven thousand dollars this year.

KDC and the City of Kankakee are aware of this and acknowledged that their sponsorships have remained flat since starting the festival. Costs of everything continually rise each year, so it is understandable how this happened. Ms. Beasley and Mr. Bertrand are working on a budget similar to the library format. Ms. Beasley reminded the board that she did warn them and KDC that this was going to happen when she began booking bands and saw how much costs were increasing. She estimates that sponsorships need to increase by $20,000 in order to break even for next year. Mr. Conway asked if sales were down at all at the fest this year. Mr. Bertrand said they were not; 2018 and 2019 were almost identical. Ms. Beasley said that beer prices for festival goers haven’t increased since 2011, so it’s time to raise that. She’s also thought about the VIP sponsor night that is typically free drinks for all. Next year, two tokens will be given for free drinks and after that the attendees can buy drinks. Ms. Santoyo-Marin mentioned she would like to see more Hispanic inclusion at the fest considering the Hispanic population is increasing significantly.

Ms. Beasley said she agreed and would like help on that issue. Mr. Conway would like Mr. Bertrand to report back on how the seven thousand dollars will come about. Mr. Bertrand informed the board the contract with EBJ ended and Silver Broom will be taking over the fourth floor. It was discovered that it would not be legal for us to sublease to CDA because we have no legal relationship with the building. The lease will have to be between CDA and the

City of Kankakee.

Unfinished Business: There was no unfinished business

New Business: The Youth Services department requested to move $5,000 from their book budget to their youth programming budget. Ms. Adams motioned to approve this transfer, and Mr. Wade seconded. The board approved unanimously. Mr. Bertrand requested the approval to build a small storage room in Studio 201 with money from the Wertz fund. Mr. Conway asked how much that would cost and Mr. Bertrand said it would be about $8,811. Mr.

Conway suggested to move the excess money from computer support services to building capital outlay to pay for the room. Ms. Schuldt motioned to approve, and Ms. Adams seconded. The board approved unanimously. The board was also presented with a “Library of Things” user agreement. The board questioned what this was, and Mr.

Bertrand explained patrons could check out items like board games, tools, go pros, etc… Mr. Gall motioned to approve the user agreement and Ms. Schuldt seconded. The board approved unanimously.

Executive Session:

Executive Session began at 7:05 and ended at 7:20

The meeting ended at 7:23 p.m.

https://pipeline.locallabs.com/data-entry/leads/3780789