Kankakee Times

Bourbonnais Public Library District Board of Trustees met March 18.

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. on March 18, 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: Stejkowskis hared with the Board his appreciation for the Community Partner Focus Group that met February 28 and for the level of participation from those in attendance.

Secretary’s Report: The Board reviewed the minutes from the regular Board Meeting held February 26, 2024, and the minutes from Community Focus Partner Group/Long Range Planning Committee held February 28, 2024. Burgess made a motion to accept all the minutes as presented. Blankestyn seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes.

Correspondence & Communications and Public Comment (action items only): Library Director McCully and the BPL Staff received a thank you note from Liberty Intermediate School Librarian Marissa Anderson expressing her appreciation for everything the library staff did to make the Battle of the Books competition a huge success.

Financial Report: Stringer reviewed the transactions and asked for any questions. Stringer made a motion to pay the monthly bills as presented. Stejkowski seconded the motion. Blankestyn, Burgess, Hendrick, Hofman, Prentkowski, Stringer, and Stejkowski voted yes. The balance sheet is tracking at 62.6% and will be submitted to the auditor.

Director’s Report: Deadlines: April 30, Last day for filing Statement of Economic Interest with the Kankakee County Clerk.

Technology: A significant amount of time, energy, and effort went into finalizing the library’s server migration and network updates this month. At the suggestion of Outsource Solutions Group (OSG), a new anti-virus product, Sentinel One, was installed on all computers. The project hit a critical stage when the library’s old server’s hard drives began to fail on Tuesday, March 12. McCully worked with Today’s Business Solutions and Time Clock Plus to expedite the migration of software products to the new server to limit downtime for patrons and staff. OSG IT Engineer, Jerry Goodman, has been an invaluable resource and problem solver during this process. Currently, all staff and patron PCs have been migrated. The only software component the Library is waiting to launch is a new cloud-based version of the Time Clock Plus software currently in use.

McCully is presenting a quote to the Board to replace five additional staff PCs at the suggestion of OSG. These PCs are six to seven years old and cannot handle current updates or connect to printers. McCully will also obtain a quote to replace her computer within the month.

Requests for IT support are to be submitted to the Supervisory Team. Each supervisor then determines if a Help Desk Ticket with OSG is needed. OSG typically responds immediately if a critical outage occurs and within a few hours if it is a minor event. Everyone is very pleased with their response time and professional service. All Help Desk Tickets are included in our managed care contract.

Building & Grounds: Precision Piping completed a Backflow Prevention Testing on Monday, March 11. This testing is required on the library’s sprinkler system annually by Aqua Illinois. “Backflow is when contaminated water has reversed flow and entered clean water lines. It can occur at any cross-connection between clean and dirty water lines and is typically caused by a significant change in water pressure, such as from a burst water main. Dirty water may contain hazardous materials like human waste, pesticides, or chemicals, so it poses a serious health concern” (Best Plumbing, website article). The Library passed all tests performed on the backflow system.

The Library continues to wait for installation for the lighting project. Keast Electric, Inc. communicated on March 5 that the light fixtures were ordered and there was a three week lead time given by the manufacturer. A representative from Keast visited the Library on Friday, March 8, to inspect the lobby and break room areas. They indicated they would like to start the installation preparation work soon. McCully is waiting for confirmation of project start dates.

Protection Associates performed its annual fire alarm testing on Friday, March 15. The system passed all its testing. They recommend replacing aging components within the fire alarm system in the next 1-2 years.

Strategic Planning: Twenty participants joined the Community Partner Focus Group on Wednesday, February 28. Library trustees, local educators, and community leaders provided valuable feedback to the library’s planning process. Some recurring themes were cross-promotion, community partnership opportunities, and suggestions for marketing the library’s services and facilities.

Over 300 people participated in the Strategic Planning Survey. The feedback from this survey and the focus group sessions will be used to establish three to five goals for the strategic plan. The Staff Strategic Planning Committee will meet on Friday, March 22, and Tuesday, March 26, to review the focus group results, survey narrative, and survey results, and to draft goals and action steps for the plan.

Professional Development: McCully has been matched with a mentee for the ILA Mentorship Program. This is a six-month program organized by the Illinois Library Association to provide networking and mentorship opportunities for emerging librarians. Mentorship is an important part of McCully’s journey as a librarian and administrator. She is thrilled to be able to help create a space where she can share practical advice, her experiences, and learn from someone at the beginning of their library career.

McCully will attend the Public Library Association Conference in Columbus, Ohio, April 3- 5. This event offers over 100 conference sessions, speakers, authors, many opportunities for networking with other library professionals, and an exhibitor hall for library vendors and contractors.

Programs and Services: Spring into new genres this March and April with the Spring Reading Challenge! Expanding what you read can strengthen your reading comprehension, spark your imagination, and introduce you to different ways of enjoying the world around you. This reading challenge, geared toward adults, features nine different genres. Participate through the library’s online reading challenge platform, BeanStack. McCully included a link for further information about the challenge.

Upcoming programs include Movie Club at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19, Kitty Kat Storytime at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 23, Dr. Temple Grandin (a virtual event) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, and an interview & book signing event with local author, Amy Kemp, at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 29.

Committee Reports:

Finance: None.

Personnel: None.

Policy: None.

Building and Grounds: None.

Long Range Planning: None.

Unfinished Business:

Discuss Status of Lighting Project: McCully reviewed lighting submittals from Gordon Electric which were prepared for Keast Electric, Inc. Several complimentary styles have been ordered for the lobby and Westgate lighting for the break room. There is a three - week lead time from the manufacturer.

Discuss Strategic Planning Process: McCully shared data from the staff focus group including a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, a library patrons focus group, a community partners focus group, and the community survey. After sharing these, McCully reviewed the Discovery Report from strategic planning facilitators Sarah Marion and Jeff Williamson.

New Business:

Review and Approve Staff PC Estimate: McCully presented a quote from Outsource Solutions Group (OSG) for five staff PCs. The current PCs are six to seven years old. Purchase of these all-in-one computers for $11,056.97 includes installation. The old computers will be recycled. McCully also gave a quote of $2,051.19 for a new computer for her office. Prentkowski made a motion to approve the purchase of computers for the library staff and for McCully not to exceed the quoted prices of $11,056.97 for staff PCs and $2,051.19 for McCully’s computer. Blankestyn seconded the motion. Blankestyn, Burgess, Hendrick, Hofman, Prentkowski, Stringer, and Stejkowski voted yes.

Review and Approve Serving Our Public 02-04 Full-time & Part-time Staff: Full-time Employee Insurance Benefits: McCully presented Serving Our Public 02-04 Full-time & Part-time: Full-time Employee Benefits policy reviewed by HR Source. McCully recommended changing the wording from “pay a flat amount” toward any deductible to “pay $250” toward any deductible. Stringer made a motion to change the policy wording for Serving Our Public 02-04: Full-time Employee Insurance Benefits. Blankestyn seconded the motion and it passed with all ayes.

Trustee Training-Short Takes for Trustees: What it Means to Be a Trustee: Short Takes for Trustees from the American Library Association is a series of short videos (8-10 minutes each) that can be shown during board meetings. Topics in the series include trustee basics, how to set policy, how to evaluate the library director, board self

evaluation, and the ethical and parliamentary standards for boards. These short videos will be viewed by the BPL Board over the next few months. The first one was viewed before the adjournment of this meeting.

Public Comment: None.

Adjournment: Blankestyn made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:01 p.m. Hofman seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes.

https://bourbonnaislibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Minutes-3-18-2024.pdf