Kankakee Times

Bourbonnais Public Library District Board of Trustees Met March 15.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

President David Stejkowski called to order the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Bourbonnais Public Library District at 7:00 p.m. on March 15, 2021.

Trustees present: David Stejkowski and Deborah Hendrick attended in person. Mary Kay Blankestyn, Laura Contreras, Laurie Hofman, Judith Smead, and Ellen Stringer attended via ZOOM.

Also present: Library Director Kelly McCully attended in person.

President’s Report: Stejkowski noted there was a quorum present and complimented the library staff on their continued creativity with programming offered to library patrons.

Secretary’s Report: The Board reviewed the minutes from the regular Board Meeting held February 22, 2021. Smead made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected. Hofman seconded the motion. Stejkowski, Blankestyn, Contreras, Hendrick, Hofman, Smead, and Stringer voted yes.

Correspondence & Communications and Public Comment (action items only): The Library received a letter and certificate from Marilyn Sanders, Chicago Regional Director U.S. Census Bureau, expressing appreciation for the library’s partnership during the 2020 Census.

Financial Report: Stringer reviewed the transactions and asked for any questions. Stejkowski noted that income is a little lower than expected, but so are expenses. Finances are in good shape. Stringer made a motion to pay the monthly bills as presented. Stejkowski seconded the motion. Stejkowski, Blankestyn, Contreras, Hendrick, Hofman, Smead, and Stringer voted yes. The balance sheet will be submitted to the auditor.

Director’s Report: Deadlines: March 15, Per Capita Grant application due (completed March 2). April 6, Consolidated Election. April 30, Last day for filing Statement of Economic Interests with County Clerk.

Marketing: There are currently 1,467 people on the library email list. The Library has 2,297 followers on Facebook and 771 followers on Instagram (a bar graph was included showing marketing stats).

The Marketing Team has been hard at work adding daily content to our social media platforms. They launched the library’s annual March Book Madness campaign and introduced patrons to the new video streaming service, Kanopy.

There are also new bookBONNAIS shirt colors available. The limited-edition colors are marigold, sage, and cornflower. Each shirt is $15. BookBONNAIS was created to share library love with our community.

Adult Services: To promote the library’s A/V collection, we featured themed movie kits in March. Each kit came with three films and some tasty treats. The movie kit promotion was extremely popular. All kits were claimed within the first two weeks of March.

The second annual virtual Winter Reading Challenge wrapped up on February 28. We had 109 participants who read a total of 832 books.

Youth Services: Take-away craft and activity kits have been especially popular with families. This month Youth Services is offering Leprechaun Trap and Bingo Kits for children.

We received 17 submissions for our Teen Poetry Contest in February. One winner and two honorable mentions were awarded with gift cards for their creativity.

A Children’s Circulation Statistics chart comparing February 2020 and February 2021 was also included.

Circulation Services: Circulation Services made 50 new library cards in February. This is a very high number considering that library services are still limited, and February is a shorter month.

Technical Services: 446 new items were added to the collection. 312 items were weeded from the collection.

Trustee Training: The Illinois Library Association Trustee Forum will have a workshop in April on equity, diversity, and inclusion for trustees. This training will be offered virtually. Please let McCully know if you are interested in registering for this event. All training expenses will be paid for by the Library.

2021 Summer Reading Program: Our Summer Reading Committee has chosen Reading Colors Your World as this year’s theme. The Summer Reading Program will be offered both in-person and virtually during June and July 2021.

Committee Reports:

Personnel: None.

Finance: None.

Policy: None.

Building and Grounds: None.

Long Range Planning: None.

Unfinished Business:

Discuss Library Response to Illinois COVID-19: McCully reviewed the Phase 4 Guidelines from the Restore Illinois Plan. Kankakee County has 9.8% of the eligible population fully vaccinated. McCully will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and recommends the Library stay at Phase 3 of the Reopening Plan.

New Business:

Discuss Open Meetings Act & Virtual Meetings: McCully spoke with Dennis Walsh, library legal counsel, about the legality of continuing to offer in-person and ZOOM opportunities for Board meetings. Walsh stated that with the current status of COVID-19, the Library is still in a situation where the Board can legally have hybrid meetings offering both in person and ZOOM choices for those attending.

Stejkowski also was concerned about what constitutes a quorum after the April 6 Consolidated Election because there will be vacancies on the Board. Walsh said there

needs to be four trustees at every Board meeting to have a quorum. The vacancies can be filled after the election is certified which will probably happen in May. Stejkowski may call a brief special board meeting between April and May.

Discuss and Approve Air Quality Assessment & HVAC Analysis Proposal: Prior to the meeting, McCully emailed an article for board members to read from the January 2021 Library Journal entitled Breathing Room: HVAC Solutions and Resources for COVID Risk Mitigation. McCully reviewed a proposal for an Indoor Air Quality Study from Midwest Environmental Consulting Services, Inc. This item was tabled until the April meeting when the second part of the proposal will be available.

Public Comment: None.

Adjournment: Stringer made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:40 p.m. Hendrick seconded the motion. Stejkowski, Blankestyn, Contreras, Hendrick, Hofman, Smead, and Stringer voted yes.

https://www.bourbonnaislibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Minutes-3-15-2021.pdf