Kankakee Times

Bourbonnais Public Library District Board of Trustees met Aug. 15.

Here are 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 7:01 p.m.

Trustees present: Deborah Hendrick, Judith Smead, Ellen Stringer, Amanda Wright, and David Stejkowski. Trustees Mary Kay Blankestyn and Laurie Hofman were absent. Also present: Library Director Kelly McCully

President’s Report: Stejkowski noted there was a quorum present. He expressed how much he enjoyed the online discussion between Board members concerning other libraries and the future of BPL.

Secretary’s Report: The Board reviewed the minutes from the regular Board Meeting held July 18, 2022. Stringer made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Stejkowskiseconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes. Trustees Blankestyn and Hofman were absent.

Correspondence & Communications and Public Comment (action items only): None.

Financial Report: Stringer reviewed the transactions and asked for any questions. Stringer made a motion to pay the monthly bills as presented. Wright seconded the motion. Hendrick, Smead, Stringer, Wright, and Stejkowski voted yes. Trustees Blankestyn and Hofman were absent. The balance sheet is tracking at 6.8% and will be submitted to the auditor.

Director’s Report: Deadlines: August 16, Fiscal year 2021-22 audit will be performed by Joe Martin of Zabel & Associates. September 1, Secretary’s Audit due. September 1, Illinois Public Library Annual Report due. September 20, First day for candidates for the Library Board of Trustees to circulate nominating petition sheets.

Marketing: The Library has 2,696 Facebook followers, 997 Instagram followers, 1,052 followers on TikTok, and had 7,211 Website visits. McCully included a Current Social Media Statistics bar graph.

Social Media Campaigns include Stump the Librarian, What’s New at the Library, and Library Apps.

Summer Reading Wrap Up: BPL wrapped up the summer reading program at the end of July. Over 800 children, teens, and adults participated in the program. Collectively, participantsread over 600,000 minutes in June and July. The staff celebrated with a wrap up lunch on Tuesday, August 9. McCully expressed appreciation to all staff members and local sponsors who helped make this program a success.

Finance: The Kankakee County Treasurer released the library’s first tax disbursement on Thursday, July 28, in the amount of $513,165.58. This represents about 50 percent of BPL’s tax revenue for the fiscal year. Funds that were transferred in July from the Illinois Funds Capital Reserve to the Midland Checking account to cover July invoices and payroll have been returned to the Illinois Funds Capital Reserve account.

McCully has finished preparing for the library’s annual financial audit that will take place on Tuesday, August 16. She will work with the auditor, Joe Martin, to schedule the audit presentation sometime this fall.

A grant agreement was submitted to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency for the Public Assistance Grant that McCully applied for in the amount of $9,880 to cover cleaning expenses from February 2022-June 2022. McCully is hoping to receive award notification, and possibly payment, sometime soon.

Director’s University 2.0: McCully attended the Director’s University 2.0 August 2-4 at Illinois State Library in Springfield with 43 other directors from public libraries throughout Illinois. They attended intensive workshops on strategic and capital planning, budgeting, fundraising, and human resources. This was an excellent opportunity to expand on the training McCully received at the inaugural Director’s University in 2017. McCully was pleased to see many colleagues from her original DU classes and enjoyed the opportunity to hear from others about triumphs and challenges at small rural libraries, libraries similar in size to BPL, and large, multi-million dollar public libraries. A few goals that McCully took away from DU 2.0 are:

∙ Draft & Implement an updated BPL Technology Plan.

∙ Gather feedback for a new BPL Strategic Plan.

∙ Assess the need for an outside Capital Needs Assessments for the facility and grounds.

∙ Work with a financial advisor to maximize library financial investments and to develop a strategy to save for current and future capital needs and construction projects.

Building & Grounds: Annual carpet cleaning is scheduled for August 27-28. McCully is still hoping to submit a request for quotes for floor covering throughout the building this fiscal year, but the process will take several months to complete. Updates will be shared in a future Building & Grounds Committee meeting.

Grant Information: The Library District received Illinois Public Library Per Capita Grant funds in the amount of $39,363.33 on August 15. This is an increase of over $3,600 from FY2021-22 due to an increase in the District’s population from 24,262 to 26,387.

Committee Reports: 

Personnel: None.

Finance: None.

Policy: None.

Building and Grounds: McCully will schedule a time for this meeting. 

Long Range Planning: None.

Unfinished Business: None.

New Business: 

Adopt Ordinance 22-04 Budget & Appropriation Ordinance: Wright made a motion to adopt Ordinance 22-04- Budget & Appropriation Ordinance as presented. Smead seconded the motion. Hendrick, Smead, Stringer, Wright, and Stejkowski voted yes. Trustees Blankestyn and Hofman were absent.

Public Comment: None.

Adjournment: Stringer made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:32 p.m. Hendrick seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes. Trustees Blankestyn and Hofman were absent.

https://bourbonnaislibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Minutes-8-15-2022.pdf