Kankakee Times

Bourbonnais Public Library District Board of Trustees met Feb. 26.

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 7:00 p.m. on February 26, 2024.

Trustees present: Mary Kay Blankestyn, Kate Burgess, Deborah Hendrick, Laurie Hofman, Jessica Prentkowski, Ellen Stringer, and David Stejkowski.

Also present: Library Director Kelly McCully.

President’s Report: Stejkowski expressed appreciation to Director McCully for the excellent staff in-service day held Friday, February 9, 2024.

Secretary’s Report: The Board reviewed the minutes from the regular Board Meeting held January 22, 2024. Stejkowski made a motion to accept the minutes as amended. Blankestyn seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes.

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. Prentkowski seconded the motion. Blankestyn, Burgess, Hendrick, Hofman, Prentkowski, Stringer, and Stejkowski voted yes. The balance sheet is tracking at 53.5% and will be submitted to the auditor.

Director’s Report: Deadlines: February 1, Last day to prepare and send a list of those required to file a Statement of Economic Interest with the Kankakee County Clerk. April 30, Last day for filing Statement of Economic Interest with the Kankakee County Clerk.

Finance: The Library received $3,921.78 in grant funding from reimbursable expenses for the Teen Project Next Generation Technology Grant. The Library is eligible for up to $11,950 this fiscal year in grant funds from the Illinois State Library for this project.

Technology: Outsource Solutions Group (OSG) is working to complete the Library’s server migration and network upgrades. The Library purchased new download/upload protection software for the patron PCs, a new ethernet switch to allow for the expansion of the library’s network, and a new firewall. The Library will have to migrate to a cloud based version of the timeclock software that is currently being used. So far, McCully is very pleased with the progress that is being made on this large project. The Board will review two different service agreements with OSG to move from a pre-paid service model to a managed services agreement designed to measure, alert, and maintain the key network elements to provide IT services.

Midwest Integrated Solutions (MIS) installed three additional exterior cameras on Monday, February 12, 2024. The additional cameras will provide security monitoring for the south end of the building. MIS also ran three additional ethernet data lines for the network expansion in the Work Room for no additional charge.

Building & Grounds: Facilities Coordinator, Bill Johnson, replaced a failed motor in an air fan in the White Oak Room that was failing. No doubt, this saved the Library hundreds of dollars that would have otherwise had to be spent on a contractor repair.

The Library continues to wait for installation for the lighting project. The last update received from Keast Electric was on February 13, 2024, where they indicated that they were waiting on an estimated lead time from the lighting manufacturer before they could schedule a start date for the project.

The Library received two desks for the Marketing and Teen Services Departments and three modular tables for the Cardinal Room from Warehouse Direct. This completes spending for furniture for this fiscal year. Next year the Library will get estimates for new study tables and chairs throughout the Library and furniture for the Teen Library Club space.

Strategic Planning: A Staff Strategic Planning Workshop was held during the staff in service on Friday, February 9, 2024. The session allowed staff in attendance to learn about the strategic planning process and provide feedback for a Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. Responses will be included in the Discovery Report for the plan.

A small group of patrons attended a Patron Focus Group session on Thursday, February 22, 2024. Strategic planning facilitators Sarah Marion and Jeff Williamson led the session to get feedback from patrons about library services and programs.

The final focus group is scheduled for Wednesday, February 28, 2024, at 1 p.m. to allow local educators, partners, and community leaders to provide feedback for the library’s planning process. Since more than three trustees plan to attend, a Long Range Planning Committee meeting will officially be scheduled in conjunction with this meeting to comply with the Open Meetings Act.

McCully included a QR code that can be used to submit a response to the Community Survey. She asked Board members to share this QR code with friends or colleagues and is particularly interested in feedback from nonusers. Two $25 Amazon gift cards will be given away in a drawing for anyone who completes the survey and includes their contact information.

Community Partnerships: The Library renewed the partnership with the Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53 to offer the Imagination Library to families within the Bourbonnais Public Library District. This program offers books for children from birth to five through funding shared by Dolly Parton’s foundation and local partners. The State of Illinois did release press that they would provide funding for this program for the entire state of Illinois, but BPL has not seen this funding come through yet. McCully included a link to the Imagination Library website for those wanting to learn more about the program or register.

BPL and BESD #53 partnered to launch the second Battle of the Books program on Friday, February 16, 2024. Children’s Services Supervisor, Rory Parilac, and Liberty Intermediate School Librarian, Marissa Anderson, helped organize this epic literary trivia competition for fifth and sixth-grade students from Liberty. Fifty-eight students on eleven teams participated in the competition. With a final round tiebreaker, The Cliffhangers were declared the 2024 winning team! Participants received prizes and enjoyed a pizza party sponsored by BESD #53. BPL send their gratitude to the administration and staff at Liberty Intermediate School for their support of this program. McCully sent big shoutouts and high-fives to Rory and Marissa for all their hard work in planning, promoting, and organizing this literary event! McCully included a link to the Daily Journal article written about the event and several pictures from the day of the event.

Upcoming Programs and Services: BPL’s Adult Winter Reading Challenge Snowed in With A Book wrapped up at the end of January. There were 114 participants that read collectively over 184,000 minutes. In conjunction with the Reading Challenge, BPL held a Photo Challenge to encourage engagement with the Library. Nine participants submitted photos for this challenge. The Teen Department offered the Winter Wander Reading Challenge which had 33 participants who read over 7,000 minutes collectively. The Adult Spring Reading Challenge will be offered March-April through the library’s Beanstack reading challenge platform.

Upcoming programs include Silent Book Club at 6 – 8 p.m. on Wednesday, February 28, Barbie Club at 10 a.m. and Builders Club at 1 p.m. both on Saturday, March 9, Paint @ Your Pace at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, Board Game Break Out beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, and Movie Club at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19.

Committee Reports:

Finance: None.

Personnel: None.

Policy: None.

Building and Grounds: None.

Long Range Planning: Community Partners Focus Group Meeting to be held February 28.

Unfinished Business:

Discuss Status of Lighting Project: McCully shared that Keast Electric, Inc. has indicated they are waiting to hear back from the lighting manufacturer and will not be able to schedule a start date for the project until they do hear from the manufacturer. McCully reached out to Carlile Architects LLC with the hope that they might be able to help with the contractor’s information.

Discuss and Approve IT Managed Services Contract: McCully shared that the Outsource Solutions Group has been working to complete the server migration, network upgrades, and a new firewall. She has been very pleased with the progress that is being made on this project. Outsource has taken care of many of the failures and issues experienced by the previous IT service. McCully recommends investing in IT services and reviewed two different service agreements to move from a pre-paid service model from Outsource Solutions Group to a managed service agreement. After a brief discussion, Blankestyn made a motion to approve the Hassle Free option from Outsource Solutions Group. Burgess seconded the motion. Blankestyn, Burgess, Hendrick, Hofman, Prentkowski, Stringer, and Stejkowski voted yes.

New Business:

Discuss Strategic Planning Process: McCully updated the Board on the progress being made with the Strategic Planning process. There have been focus groups with the staff and with library patrons. The final focus group will be with local educators, partners, and community leaders. Strategic planning facilitators Sarah Marion and Jeff Williamson will include responses from these focus groups in the Discovery Report for the strategic plan. There is also a Community Survey available through February that has over 300 responses to date.

Discuss & Approve Auditing Services for FY2023-24: McCully led a discussion reviewing last year’s auditing services by Brandt & Associates. Last year’s cost was $3,900 and the estimated cost for next year is $4,150. McCully’s recommendation is to use Brandt & Associates for next year’s audit. Burgess made a motion to retain Brandt & Associates for the FY2023-2024 audit. Prentkowski seconded the motion. Blankestyn, Burgess, Handrick, Hofman, Prentkowski, Stringer, and Stejkowski voted yes.

Public Comment: None.

Adjournment: Hofman made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:28 p.m. Hendrick seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes.

https://bourbonnaislibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Minutes-2-26-2024.pdf