Board of Trustees & Committees

Library Board of Trustees

The Regular Meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Vespasian Warner Public Library District for the 2024-2025 fiscal year will be 6:00 p.m., at the Vespasian Warner Public Library, 310 N Quincy St., Clinton, Illinois on the following dates:

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May 14, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 6/11/25)

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Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL 61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

May 14, 2025

 

President Laura Hale called the meeting of the board to order at 6:03 p.m. Roll call was taken with the following members present: Hale, Janelle Sams-Thomas, Matt Love, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, and Camille Redman. Also present: Executive Director Bobbi Perryman, Youth Services Manager Melissa Snow, Katrina Held, President of the Friends of the Library, and Sabrina Held, her sidekick.

 

Hale swore in the board members re-elected in the April 1 election: Adams, Held, and Redman.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes: The minutes from April 9, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Sams-Thomas.

 

Approval of Bills—None

 

Correspondence—Hale read a letter from the library to the Friends of the Library expressing the library’s gratitude for their spearheading of the fundraising for the outdoor pavilion.

 

Staff Reports—

• Libraries Transforming Communities sent their $10,000 grant for improving access to the library for the disabled. The plan for redoing the ramp and adding a handrail to make the front entrance more accessible was discussed with the clients at Encore and on May 9 with Clay Held and his mother Margie at the library. The current ramp is too narrow for wheelchairs, walkers, and scooters, and needs to be relocated to the parking area, and an additional handicapped parking space needs to be added. The sidewalk needs redone, which will be coordinated with the city, since we own only a small portion of the walk. The estimate for the concrete work is $8,000, leaving $2,000 for the new handrail along the sidewalk. The bike rack will be moved to the other side of the front door to allow for the handrail.

• The library has seen a 46 percent increase in program attendance, patron services are again up over 200 percent, and computer usage, after many years of going down, was again up in April, especially on the children’s floor, where computer games have again become popular, especially Minecraft and PBS Kids.

• Snow reported enjoying, as well as other staff members, the Reaching Forward South conference in early April.

• She facilitated an Astronomy Program.

• She has been promoting the summer reading program at the schools in all grades. The theme this year is “Color Our World,” with a focus on arts and crafts. Among the features included are a water table, an electric guitar, and Beats headphones. Friends of the Library are helping fund the kick-off May 31 and the end-of-summer celebration.

• A four-week program featuring ESL classes is planned as part of the effort to increase teen use of the library.

• In addition, a youth arts series featuring several media has been scheduled.

 

Standing Committee Reports

   a. Finance—Love says he has updated seven CDs. Long-term rates are not as good as they have been. He has made sure sufficient funds are available for the first installment of the library’s payments to ENTEC for the HVAC project. One $40,000 piece of equipment has been delayed.

   b. Property—Katrina Held updated the board on the pavilion. The concrete is done, and the pavilion went up in three hours. It was 100 percent crowd-funded by the community, with donations still coming in. Concrete in poor repair from an old garage will be ripped out and replaced with a more accessible surface. The total raised for the pavilion stands at about $5,500, not including $1,200 raised during the spring Friends book sale. About $200 of the $1,200 came from a “keep the change” promotion at the sale. The next phase is putting in electricity at the pavilion. In other property activity, the library will need to replace firehead sprinklers on the lower level at a cost of $1,800; one small leak has been found in the roof (a much better report than the difficulties the library has had for the last 30 years); it will be taken care of under the contract for roof maintenance we have with Henson Robinson; and the flat catwalk on the roof will probably need to be replaced.

   c. Personnel—none

   d. Policy—(See c below.)

 

Business Items:

   a. Election of Officers—Adams moved to nominate the current slate of officers (Hale as president, Sams-Thomas as vice president, Love as treasurer, and Adams as secretary). Love moved to close the nominations. Both motions were approved by voice vote.

   b. Appointment of Trustees to Committees—President Hale reappointed the current committee members: Finance: Love and Redman, Property: Hale and Sams-Thomas, Personnel: Held and Coonce, and Policy: Adams and Sams-Thomas.

   c. Draft Supervised Visitation Policy—Snow and Perryman reviewed the new policy and the problems that have led to its addition (lack of notice by those using the study rooms on the children’s floor, food brought in and ordered in by participants, and disruptive behavior from the children involved). The policy and an agreement to be signed by participants were approved by voice vote.

 

Announcements—Ribbon-cutting for the new pavilion will be 9 a.m. May 31 at the summer reading kick-off. Everyone is encouraged to come. Perryman will be going on vacation beginning Friday, but will be in town if needed.

 

Adjournment—On a motion by Coonce, the meeting was adjourned at 6:36 p.m. Motion passed by voice vote.

 

The next meeting is Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at 6 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams​

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June 11, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 7/9/25)

Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

June 11, 2025

  

President Laura Hale called the meeting of the board to order at 6:01 p.m.  Roll call was taken with the following members present:  Hale, Janelle Sams-Thomas, Matt Love (in at 6:11), Becky Adams, and Clay Held. Absent:  Stephanie Coonce and Camille Redman.  Also present:  Executive Director Bobbi Perryman.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes:  The minutes from May 14, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Sams-Thomas.

 

Approval of Bills—None

 

Correspondence—none

 

Staff Reports—

• The library was closed for three days at the end of May due to a water leak.  Nonfiction was unavailable for about a week.  Serv-Pro was good to work with; they will bill our insurance directly.  Two hundred twenty-eight volumes were sent to Serv-Pro for drying out.  They are not done, but are probably a total loss.  Fifteen volumes were weeded.  Another 50 were dried in-house.  Ironically, the book How To Deal with Water Damage in Your Home was a total loss.  Staff followed the library’s emergency plan.  The damage was not as bad as it initially looked.  WWII took a big hit.  The loss was submitted to insurance.

• Circulation of audio e-books is up.

• Melissa Snow, Emily Dunham, and library mascot Luna the lizard appeared on WCIA and were a big hit.  They will be returning to the air monthly.

• The library has a total of 662 summer readers so far, ahead of the usual at this time in June.

• The library is excited to reach out to a new audience, English as a Second Language learners.  The high school ESL teacher made sure all the students were issued library cards.  In addition, she has been translating some for the library and has helped create brochures and flyers.

 

Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance—The $300,000 first installment of the library’s payments to ENTEC for the HVAC project has been made.  The next installment of $130,000 will probably be made in mid-July.  Love visited three banks about possibly financing $1.5 million of the project since the committee doesn’t want to commit all of our funds at once.  He will discuss terms with them later.

2. Property—The Friends of the Library are using extra funds for a concrete entrance to the new pavilion.  The TKS bid for the new front walk was less than anticipated, under $5,000.

3. Personnel—none

4. Policy—Does the library need a reservation or rental system for the new pavilion?  Right now, it’s first-come, first served.  We will wait and see what, if anything, is needed.

 

 

 

Business Items:

1. Audit Engagement Letter--Love has reviewed the letter from Striegel Knobloch of Bloomington and checked on two items included.  He moved that the library agree to pay the company for their audit not to exceed $13,000.  The motion passed by voice vote.

2. Liability Insurance Renewal—The options include $2,776 or $300 more for a $1 million umbrella excess (side A, version 2).  Adams moved to approve the second option and the motion was approved by voice vote.

3. Non-Resident Program Participation for FY 2025/2026—Adams moved that we continue to use the tax bill option when charging for cards for non-residents.  The motion passed by voice vote.

4. Set Meeting Dates for FY 2025/2026—Sams-Thomas moved to approve setting the meeting dates for the second Wednesday of the month, noting that August’s date may have to be moved to comply with the public notice period for the budget.  The motion was approved by voice vote.

5. Appoint Two Trustees To Review Closed Session Minutes—Hale appointed Sams-Thomas and Love.

 

Announcements—none

 

Adjournment—On a motion by Sams-Thomas, the meeting was adjourned at 6:43 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

 

The next meeting is Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at 6 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams

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​July 9, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 8/20/25)

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​Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL 61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

July 9, 2025

 

President Laura Hale called the meeting of the board to order at 6:01 p.m. Roll call was taken with the following members present: Hale, Janelle Sams-Thomas, Matt Love, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, and Camille Redman. Also present: Executive Director Bobbi Perryman and Logan Janicki, a former employee, observing for coursework for a Master’s of Library and Information Science.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes: The minutes from June 11, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Sams-Thomas.

 

Approval of Bills—None

 

Correspondence—none

 

Staff Reports—

• Former board member Logan Redman, who has moved to Alton, has permanently loaned his collection of DeWitt County historic artifacts to the library.

• Director Perryman has begun working on IPLAR for 2024-2025.

• June statistics were affected by the water leak. Digital services were up 11 percent, and videos were down. Hoopla costs were up to $1,000 from $500. Children are staying to play after storytime with special toys that are brought out especially for this use. Computer use continues to go up. Free library services are up.

• Lego Club for youth has been revamped so kids get prizes for attending, and, as a result, turnout has increased.

• A magician’s performance was sponsored by Jon Young for the July 26 wind-up of Summer Reading, which will also feature a pizza party.

• Planning has begun for the Halloween bash on the Saturday before Halloween.

 

Standing Committee Reports

a. Finance—Love reported that seven CDs have been renewed for 12-18 months, plus $600,000 now resides in a money market account at 4 percent. Three local banks are working on 20-minute proposals for terms on a $1.5 million loan. Longview has the best terms right now. Love is meeting with our attorney about loan criteria.

b. Property—Maintenance Supervisor Lucas Snow contracted the concrete company about work on the walk and the entrance to the pavilion. These are scheduled for construction in July/August. He’s still looking for a company to construct the handrail. Ameren is looking at our indoor lighting’s conversion to LED. A new copy machine is being purchased for the main floor for $6,000. The old one will be moved up to the children’s floor.

c.Personnel—none

d. Policy—none

 

Business Items:

a. Review/Approve Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance—After the discussion and review, Coonce’s motion to approve the tentative budget was approved unanimously.

b. Set public hearing date for Budget and Appropriation Ordinance—To comply with the legal time frame for the budget to be available for public perusal, the hearing date was set for the third Wednesday, August 20.

c. Appointment of two trustees to audit FY 2024-25 minutes for IPLA—Hale appointed Redman and Coonce.

 

Announcements—The library has received $15,764.88 from the state as a per capita grant. A new Free Little Library is being installed in Kenney by September 1. It is being funded by the DAR, built by CCHS, stocked by the Friends of the Library, and will be maintained by the library. The one in Wapella keeps falling over and needs to be worked on.

 

Adjournment—On a motion by Love, the meeting was adjourned at 6:27 p.m. Motion passed by voice vote. The next meeting is Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 6 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams

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August 20, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 9/10/25)

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Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

August 20, 2025

 

 

President Laura Hale called to order the public hearing on the Annual Budget and Appropriation ordinance for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026, at 6:01 p.m. following a motion by Redman to open the hearing.  Adams moved the hearing be closed at 6:02 p.m. since no members of the public were in attendance.  Both motions were approved by voice vote.

 

Hale called meeting of the board to order at 6:03 p.m.  Roll call was taken with the following members present:  Hale, Janelle Sams-Thomas, Matt Love, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, and Redman.  Also present:  Executive Director Bobbi Perryman and Melissa Snow, Youth Services Manager.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes:  The minutes from  July 9, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Sams-Thomas.

 

Approval of Bills—none

 

Correspondence—none

 

Staff Reports—

• Staff training day on August 12 went well.

• Perryman stepped down from Directors’ University during their August meeting after serving seven years as a mentor at the boot camp for new Illinois library directors.

• Cincinnati Insurance has increased the deductible for the library’s insurance to one percent of the library’s assessed value, which would make it $92,000, which would essentially make it useless.  Marquette now has our workers compensation insurance, which has saved us $1,600.

• Foot traffic is up.  Patron services continue going up like gangbusters.  Programming attendance is now the highest in five years.  Circulation has gone up to over 100,000 per year, but self-checkout is down due to the machine being down for two months.

• A patron satisfaction survey has been completed.

• Summer Reading set a new record in 2025, with 834 registered readers.  The completion rate was 45 percent, higher than last year.

• Snow went with Emily Dunham to appear on CI Living to promote new books and programming.

• Friends of the Library contributed $250 for funding a Spanish language collection and hygiene kits to be given without cost to kids who need them.

• Snow and Perryman worked on a $500 bird-related Flight Path Grant for walks at Mettler Woods with Anton Meyen and binoculars for seated bird-watching by nursing home residents.

 

Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance—Love reported that all special reserve money is in our money market account, and the committee has been figuring the logistics for the funding of the HVAC project

2. Property—Outdoor units for the HVAC project are scheduled to be installed September 17.  The concrete contractor for the new sidewalks has been unresponsive, and we may need to search for a new contractor.  ENTEC has not yet asked for the initial $300,000 for the HVAC project. 

3. Personnel—Delta Dental may not be available for dentists in Clinton.  We need to check into this.

4. Policy—none

 

 

 

Business Items:

1. Review/Approve Budget and Appropriation Ordinance—The library attorney approved the ordinance, and Redman’s motion to approve the final budget ordinance was approved unanimously.

2. Select bank for HVAC loan—DeWitt Savings Bank has been deselected since their procedures are overly complicated, and we received no answers to some of our questions.  The bids from First National and Longview were similar, and neither required a prepayment penalty.  We want to keep our business local and would be comfortable with either bank.  We already do our other banking with First National, which provided us with a detailed professional presentation of their bid.  Love moved that we go with First National because of our prior relationship with them and because of their professional presentation.  The board voted unanimously for the motion (with Sams-Thomas abstaining due to a conflict of interest due to her profession and being related to a member of one bank).

3. Approval of Vendors for Electronic Payments—The library has been sending checks through the USPS, but some vendors have not been receiving them.  The board needs to approve electronic payments for vendors experiencing difficulties.  Adams moved that the board approve electronic payments to Ingram Book Supplier, Ameren Illinois, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cincinnati Insurance, Overdrive, City of Clinton, Delta Dental, Envisionware, and TK Elevator Corporation.  The motion was approved unanimously.

 

Announcements—The next meeting may include a possible tour of the library.

 

Adjournment—On a motion by Adams, the meeting was adjourned at 7:04 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

 

The next meeting is Wednesday, September 10, 2025, at 6 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams

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September 10, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 10/1)

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Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

September 10, 2025

 

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President Laura Hale called meeting of the board to order at 6 p.m.  Roll call was taken with the following members present:  Hale, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, and Camille Redman.  Absent:  Janelle Sams-Thomas and Matt Love.  Also present:  Executive Director Bobbi Perryman and Maintenance Supervisor Lucas Snow.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes:  The minutes from  August 20, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Coonce.

 

Approval of Bills—none

 

Correspondence—none

 

Staff Reports—

• Melissa Snow and Emily Dunham are deep into Halloween planning.

• Snow is working with Cassandra Meyen to host the Monarch Festival.  Caterpillars, surprisingly, are cannibalistic, and some needed to be replaced.  All but one of the remaining caterpillars created a chrysalis. Monarchs have begun hatching on the children’s floor.  The butterflies are to be live-streamed.

• August program attendance was way up.  Digital circulation is up.  Young Adult is up. Patron services continues to grow, and computer usage is up.

 

Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance—Cincinnati reduced the deductible for their liability insurance down from $92,000 to $25,000.  Due to cost, the library’s worker compensation insurance is now with Marquette.  We probably will need to file an extension for our audit with the state of Illinois.  Since all Illinois townships have audits due this year, the accountant firms who do public government audits are swamped.  All of our information has been sent to our auditor.

2. Property—Forms have been laid out for the concrete for the outdoor HVAC unit.  It will be complete before the Apple & Pork Festival.  Concrete from the old garage will be removed.  It presents a tripping hazard.  The 40-ton unit is expected to arrive September 18-22.  A crane will lift the unit from the truck and put it into place.  The construction timeline is now complete, indicating which trade will be doing what when.  Basement work is expected to last 8 to 10 weeks.  The boiler room demolition begins next week.  The first floor work is also expected to last 8 to 10 weeks.  It includes removing the entire drop ceiling.  The children’s floor work should take 4 to 6 weeks.  The museum will start from scratch anytime.  Some overlap will occur.  Contingencies are in place for when the circulation desk has to be moved, as well as for other areas.  Bathrooms are not expected to be a problem since the only changes are the additions of electric baseboard heaters.  The library will have heat by winter.  This is the last shoulder season involved.  The entire project will take 6 months from start to finish, so the air conditioning will be done before it is needed.  For other construction, the bid was awarded for the ADA concrete bid, but the contractor has not shown up. We may need to change contractors.

3. Personnel—Part-time clerk Olivia Totten has resigned.  She worked for the library for 2 ½ years.  She will be going to the Lincoln Library and will be working full-time there.

4. Policy—none

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Business Items:

1. Review Illinois Standards for Public Libraries:  Advocacy—Perryman credits the library staff with the strength of our partnership building with local groups, such as 4-H and the DeWitt County Museum.  The Friends of the Library has been doing advocacy for our library and for libraries in general.  The group is growing, with up to 20 members, many of them young.  Much credit for this goes to President Katrina Held.  They are going to work on locally elected officials.  Board member Clay Held suggested the library might want to join the DeWitt County Coalition of non-profits, which meets at the U of I extension office.  It is considering expansion to public governmental units and local businesses.

2. Tour of facility—After adjournment, Snow and Perryman will take the board on a tour of all of the library, including its nooks and crannies, with an emphasis on how the HVAC project will affect these areas.

 

Announcements—A poll is in progress to select a name for the new pavilion.  Patrons may vote at the circulation desk.

 

Adjournment—On a motion by Adams, the meeting was adjourned at 6:28 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

 

The next meeting is Wednesday, October 1, 2025, at 6 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams

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October 1, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 11/12/25)

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Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

October 1, 2025

 

 

President Laura Hale called the public hearing on taking out a loan for the HVAC project to order at 6:02 p.m.  The hearing was closed at 6:03 p.m.

 

Hale called the Board of Trustees meeting to order at 6:03 p.m.  Roll call was taken with the following members present:  Hale, Matt Love, Becky Adams, and Clay Held.  Absent:  Janelle Sams-Thomas, Stephanie Coonce, and Camille Redman.  Also present:  Executive Director Bobbi Perryman and Lance White, Vice President of Ag and Business Banking, from the First National Bank.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes:  The minutes from  September 10, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Held.

 

Approval of Bills—none

 

Correspondence—none

 

Staff Reports—

• Clinton Cloverbuds 4-H went on a behind-the-scenes tour of the library.

• A grant application for math programming has been submitted, but only 15 libraries nationwide will be selected.  Another was submitted to add more STEM kits to the collection.

• More than 200 people stopped by the library’s Apple & Pork booth.

• Door count for September of 2024 was 2,400, but this year it was 3,500.

• The upstairs windows were painted for homecoming and a golf cart was decorated for the homecoming parade.

• Melissa Snow attended a YEP ceremony where she accepted the grant funding for our STEM kits and was encouraged to apply for more.

 

Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance—The levy for the coming year has been drafted, and we are waiting on our final EAV.

2. Property—The work on implementing the lighting grant from Ameren for changing interior lighting is underway.  The lower level is done.  We hope to see a drop in the power bill.  Steve Carithers, project manager for the HVAC project met with library representatives.  The smaller unit is planned to be installed in the museum room in December.  The big unit is due to arrive Oct. 7 and be installed shortly thereafter.  It will be offline Oct. 13 and scheduled for start-up Oct. 14.  We still have not received the bill for the second payment yet.

3. Personnel—Part-time clerk Olivia Totten resigned, and Sarah Jenkins-Smith has been hired to replace her.  She started tonight.

4. Policy—see below.

 

Business Items:

1. Adoption of ordinance 25-2 to take out a loan for the HVAC project.  The entire project is to cost $2,201,652.  Love moved to approve a loan for $1.5 million from the First National Bank.  The interest is to be 2.5 percent below the Wall Street Journal Prime, which then becomes 4.99 per cent.  This will apply to the first seven years of the loan and is to be re-adjusted after that.  The vote was unanimously in favor, with Hale, Love, Adams, and Held voting yes, the remaining board members being absent.  The loan documents were signed by President Hale and Secretary Adams.

2. Renew and approve the draft programming policy.  The contents of this policy are similar to the library’s materials policy, with much of the wording borrowed from that of the Skokie Public Library.  After the review, Adams moved that the programming policy be adopted, and the motion passed by voice vote.

3. Review Illinois Standards for Public Libraries:  Building and Grounds.  The library will need to do a new section on capital improvements next year.  We are working on environmental standards, and will be in compliance after the lighting upgrade and the HVAC project are complete.

 

Announcements—After polling our patrons, the new pavilion has been named after Minnie B. Warner, who encouraged her husband Vespasian Warner to make a donation of land and money for the establishment of the library.  An aluminum sign will be mounted outside on the pavilion, and a plaque honoring major donors to the project will be placed inside next to the Woods photo of the board that oversaw the building of the library’s addition 35 years ago.

 

Adjournment—On a motion by Love, the meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

 

The next meeting is Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at 6 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams

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​​​October 1, 2025 - Legal Notice

LEGAL NOTICE

 

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

 

On the taking out of a loan by the Vespasian Warner Public Library District

 

Notice is hereby given to the Public that on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, at the hour of 6:00 P.M. at the Vespasian Warner Public Library, 310 North Quincy Street, Clinton, Illinois, a public hearing will be held on the taking out of a loan by the Vespasian Warner Public Library District.

 

Becky Adams Secretary, Board of Trustees Date: August 25, 2025 Vespasian Warner Public Library District 310 North Quincy Street Clinton, Illinois 61727

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November 12, 2025 - Minutes Pending Approval

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December 10, 2025

January 14, 2026

February 11, 2026

March 11, 2026

April 8, 2026

May 13, 2026

June 10, 2026

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Board minutes are available for inspection at the Vespasian Warner Public Library.