Board of Trustees & Committees

Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

March 11, 2026

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President Laura Hale called the Board of Trustees meeting to order at 6:01 p.m.  Roll call was taken with the following members present:  Hale, Janelle Sams-Thomas, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, and Camille Redman.  Also present:  Executive Director Bobbi Perryman, Maintenance Supervisor Lucas Snow, Friends of the Library President Katrina Held, and Library Friends Lisa Miller, Ron Sprague, and Kenny Atchinson.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes:  The minutes from February 11 were approved by voice vote on a motion by Redman.

 

Approval of Bills—none

 

Correspondence—none

 

Friends of the Library 2025 Year-End Summary

• The Friends’ largest project ever was completed, the construction of an outdoor pavilion, funded completely by donations from local individuals and businesses.

• The Friends received notice that they now have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, opening up new funding opportunities, such as grants.

• Total membership is now 24, with 9 new members and an average meeting attendance of 15.

• Their regular fundraising activities include the Apple and Pork Festival ($1,300), two book sales a year (about $1,500 total), and the library lobby book store, averaging $75 a month.

• Among the library projects they supported were repair of the library driveway, the Mango Languages app with French and American Sign Language the top two languages (which led to a Sign Language Club run by the Friends and a guest appearance at a pre-school story time filmed by CI Living), specialty books such as Hi-Lo (high interest, low vocabulary) and English as a Second Language (ESL), the ongoing seed library, and running a community care pantry of hygiene items.

 

Staff Reports

• Perryman presented “The History of DeWitt County through 10 Objects” to the DeWitt Clinton Chapter NSDAR.  She reported that it was fun and that she planned to do it for the public in May.  The chapter gave her an NSDAR Historic Preservation Award for her work with local history at the library.

• Trevor Leggett resigned as maintenance assistant to work full-time for the school district and was replaced by Kelly Brennan, who works with the school district part-time.

• The third large payment of $600,000 was made to ENTEC for the HVAC project.

• Foot traffic in the library was way up.  Computer use is also up.

• The library newsletter in May will go out to all the households in the district.

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Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance—The audit was filed with the state before their deadline, as well as with the county.

2. Property--The boiler went out Friday.  A pipe broke.  Originally we had decided not to replace it since it had been reliable in the past.  ENTEC will submit a separate project proposal from the rest of the HVAC project for replacing it.  On the current project, the first and second floors of the new building are almost complete.  They expect to be done within a week.  Everything is operating, except we now need a new a new boiler.  The new unit for the old building is expected to arrive April 15.  The old building (museum and DVD periodical room) will not need a lot of closing, possibly just part June or July due to being too warm.  The construction may be done by then, just waiting on some parts.  They are adding a unit for the genealogy area and the bathrooms, as well.

3. Personnel—See new maintenance assistant in staff report section.

4. Policy—See business item b. below.

 

Business Items:

1. Friends of the Library 2025 Update (moved to beginning of meeting, see above).

2. Family Neo-Natal Intensive Care Leave Policy—mandated by state, approved on a motion by Sams-Thomas with a voice vote.

3. Approve boiler replacement plan—ENTEC delivered their proposal an hour before the meeting.  The proposal included two options.  The first would replace the old boiler with one higher-powered boiler.  The second, for $20,000 more, would have two smaller boilers, twinned for redundancy.  Operating costs for this would be lower.  Since they work in tandem, there would be less wear and tear, which adds to their lifespan.  They will run year-round to deal with humidity.  Either option one or option two would be more efficient than our current boiler.  The property committee suggested we go with option 2.  The cost estimate for it is $162,100 to $205,000.  We would need to put 50 percent down.  ENTEC requires a four-week lead time.  The cost includes demolition of the old boiler.  Redman moved to accept option 2 and authorize the spending of up to $205,000.  The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.

4. Approve ENTEC annual HVAC Maintenance Agreement—The cost would be $18,906, paid in quarterly installments.  Held moved that we approve the agreement.  The motion passed unanimously.

5. Review of Standards for Illinois Libraries—Human Resources.  HR should review job descriptions.  These will be sent to HR Source Company, since we have no dedicated HR person due to our small size.  We have no salary schedule, which is recommended, but this is also because of our size.

 

Announcements

• The president of the Illinois Heartland Library System has asked Held to fill an open trustee representative position on the board of the Champaign hub.  His first meeting will be March 24.

• A new Mystery & Mayhem tour has been scheduled for April 4.

  

Adjournment—On a motion by Sams-Thomas, the meeting was adjourned at 6:44 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

 

The next meeting is Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at 6 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams