Kankakee Times

Bourbonnais Public Library District Board of Trustees met Feb. 24.

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 24, 2025.

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

Also present: Library Director Kelly McCully, Assistant Library Director Stacey Van Kley, and Marketing & Outreach Coordinator Amanda Belcher.

Introduction of Visitors and Public Comment: None.

Review Agenda for Additions/Changes: None.

Consent Agenda- Action:

Approve January 27, 2025, minutes.

Approve Financial Report and payment of bills for January 2025.

Approve check registers.

Blankestyn made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Burgess seconded the motion. Blankestyn, Burgess, Hendrick, Hofman, Prentkowski, Stringer, and Stejkowski voted yes.

Presentation via Zoom:

Jaimie Rachlin, Meristem advisors, Financial Capacity Analysis: Rachlin presented an overview of the Financial Capacity Analysis completed for the Bourbonnais Public Library. The Library has been operating on a slight deficit for the last three years and has wisely established a capital reserve. Inflation has helped increase revenue, but the problems are that costs have gone up, the Library is subject to tax caps, and there is necessary building repairs needed over the next ten years. He also did an extensive review of restricted and unrestricted funds.

Rachlin concluded that for future financial sustainability, the Library is at a decision point and must decide whether to cut costs which requires a plan for staying relevant on less money, or to increase revenue with a referendum. The Bourbonnais community would need to be told the impact of not going to a referendum and what BPL would look like going forward.

McCully thanked Rachlin for his presentation and gave the opportunity for the Board to ask questions.

Officer’s Reports: Stringer reported that the balance sheet is tracking well and will be submitted to the auditor.

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

Director’s Report: Deadlines: February 1, Last day to send the list of those required to file Statement of Economic Interest to County Clerk. April 1, Consolidated Election.

Finance: Jaimie Rachlin from Meristem Advisors will present the Financial Capacity Analysis to the Board at their February meeting. This presentation will include an analysis of current and future budgeting and recommendations for financial sustainability.

Personnel: The Board will be presented with an overview of the Market Benchmarking & Compensation Structure Project completed by HR Source. The Personnel Committee will meet in March to discuss the FY2025-26 Wage Scale.

Marketing: Working toward BPL’s strategic goal of “enriching outreach and collaboration,” Marketing and Outreach Coordinator Amanda Belcher finished creating an Outreach Plan with collaborative input from library leadership.

The Marketing Department began a series of digital literacy posts. The first gave tips on how to spot a scam message.

Building & Grounds: A leak in the sprinkler system was repaired by PIPCO on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. Unfortunately, another pressure leak occurred on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, resulting in a visit from the fire department. MATCO Fire Protection, Inc. was contacted to evaluate the system. They had the system back up and pressurized on Thursday, February 6, 2025. BPL will work with MATCO for any future testing, service, and repair of the sprinkler system.

Continuing Education: BPL now offers Udemy Online Development Courses. BPL staff and patrons can access a catalog of courses to improve skills across business, technology, personal development, and more. McCully included a link to access the Udemy library of courses.

The Library held their annual Staff Training Day on Friday, January 31, 2025. Staff members learned about serving patrons with disabilities, got tips on personal and network cybersecurity, and explored how they can support inclusive spaces, programs, and collections. Thank you to Kristin Giacchino from River Valley Special Recreation Association, Bryan Jones from Outsource Solutions Group, and Matt Hedding-Hess from the Kankakee Area LGBTQ Network for creating thoughtful and engaging presentations for BPL Staff. Staff members also enjoyed team-building sessions and visits from local support animals, Willow & Buckeye.

Patron Services: BPL is collecting Kindness in Action calendars for the February adult kindness initiative at the Circulation Desk. Patrons need to complete fourteen acts of kindness to be entered into a drawing to win a self-care package for themselves and a friend.

Upcoming Programs: Upcoming programs include Books with Baby for children up to 18 months on Fridays at 10 a.m. from January 17 to May 16, Exploring Space with Coralie Adam (a virtual event) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, Record Remix for adults 18+ from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, Saturday Planning Sessions for adults 18+ from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, Happy-Go-Lucky crafts for kids from kindergarten through 4th grade at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 17, Novels at Night book club at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19.

Committee Reports:

Finance: None.

Personnel: Meeting will be held March 17, 2025.

Policy: None.

Building and Grounds: None.

Long Range Planning: None.

Old Business:

Review & Discuss Opinion of Probable Construction Cost: Included for the Board’s review.

Review & Discuss HR Source 2025 Market Benchmarking Analysis: Included for the Board’s review.

New Business:

Review 2025 BPL Outreach Plan presented by Marketing & Outreach Coordinator Amanda Belcher: Marketing & Outreach Coordinator Amanda Belcher gave a detailed presentation of the work done by the Outreach Committee. The Committee consisted of department heads from Marketing, Adult Services, Children’s Services, Teen Services, and Circulation, plus three part-time program assistants who regularly work with outreach. The Committee also included Library Director Kelly McCully and Assistant Library Director Stacey Van Kley.

The presentation defined the Outreach Plan including values (literacy, sustainability, collaboration), the tiers of outreach (community, schools including university, programming partnerships), the Outreach Playbook, the role of Marketing & Outreach Coordinator (support, connection, assessment), and Outreach form and reflection. Belcher also gave a slide presentation that can be shared with the community.

McCully commended Belcher for her and the committee’s work on the Outreach Plan.

Discuss Strategic Planning Goal 1-Financial Sustainability: McCully briefly discussed the Financial Capacity Analysis presented by Jaimie Rachlin. She also presented information about EveryLibrary, a registered 501(c)4 organization that works pro bono with building support for libraries. This includes working directly with local libraries to facilitate information campaigns and building support. The Board then spent time discussing future revenue-building options for BPL.

Public Comment: None

Adjournment: Burgess made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:31 p.m. Prentkowski seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes.

https://bourbonnaislibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Minutes-2-24-2025.pdf