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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February 19, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 3/12/25)

 

Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

February 19, 2025

 

President Laura Hale called the meeting of the board to order at 6:02 p.m.  Roll call was taken with the following members present:  Hale, Matt Love, Clay Held, and Camille Redman.  Absent: Becky Adams, Janelle Sam-Thomas, and Stephanie Coonce.  Also present:  Executive Director Bobbi Perryman, Maintenance Supervisor Lucas Snow, Daniel Hawk, Katrina Held, and Sabrina Held.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes: The minutes from January 8, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Redman.

 

Public Comment: Katrina Held, president of Friends of Warner Library, shared the club’s activities in 2024. The Friends expanded fund-raising efforts from just the semi-annual book sales to include working with businesses to raise money and administrating booth rentals during the  Apple ‘n Pork festival on the library’s Center Street green space. Library projects funded by the Friends in 2024 include, programs, a refresh of the Seed Library, summer reading club support, a collection of high-interest/low-vocabulary books for struggling readers, and the Little Free Library in Kenney (together with DeWitt Clinton Chapter NSDAR). The Friends have also engaged in other volunteer work in the community, including helping Encore Services Inc. sort through book donations and redistributing excess classroom items from Clinton Elementary School to local homeschool groups. Plans for 2025 include installation of a cover for the library’s outdoor seating area.

 

Approval of Bills—None

 

Correspondence—A letter from Nathan Hawkins, an employee at the Champaign Public Library, who visited the library, expressing his admiration of the building and staff.

 

Staff Reports—

• The director noted the continue increase in use of digital items and the increase in use of free services, such as notary and homebound delivery.

• The door count was down by about 1,000 compared to January of 2024, though circulation and program attendance remained steady.

• The Friends of Warner Library are sponsoring a year-long subscription to the language-learning app Mango Languages, which gives patrons home access to language-learning courses.

• Melissa Snow is back at work after her maternity leave and will have a report at the next meeting.

 

Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance— Love reviewed the draft audit and noted the auditing firm gave an unqualified opinion. Love said the audit was clean and there was nothing noteworthy in it.

2. Property— Discussed in the business items below.

3. Personnel— Part-time clerk April Harvey has resigned her position. Perryman has posted the opening and received 10 applications so far. The application period ends on February 21st.

4. Policy—None

 

Business Items:

1. Audit Letter Acceptance: on a motion by Love, the audit management letter was accepted. Motion passed by voice vote.

2. HVAC Project bid and acceptance—In December 2024, the library put the project out to bid, but all the bids came back higher than the $1.8 million the board originally approved. The bids came in higher than anticipated due to raising labor and material costs. Entec reengineered the plan to bring costs down and has three options for the board to consider. Dan Hawk from Entec presented the three options. Option 1 is the original plan with an estimated cost of $2.25-$2.3 million. Option 2 is the original plan but does not replace the boiler and with less expensive cooling equipment and has an estimated cost of $2.05-$2.10 million. Option 3 is the original plan without replacing the boiler and changes the cooling and humidity control from units inside the building to a rooftop unit and has an estimated cost of $2.15-$2.19 million.  Entec recommends Option 3. The roof-top unit will provide the best humidity control, be safest for the building, and will likely last the longest. Hawk left the meeting after his presentation.  The board discussed the options and had input from Snow. Held moved to accept Option 3. Roll count vote as follows: Hale, yes ; Love, yes ; Held, yes ; Redman, yes. Motion passed. Entec will take approximately three weeks to finalize the design, then the plan will go out for bids.

 

Announcements—None

 

Adjournment—On a motion by Love, the meeting was adjourned at 7:17 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

 

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

  

Respectfully submitted,

Bobbi Perryman

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March 12, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 4/9/25)

Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

March 12, 2025

 

 

 Vice President Janelle Sams-Thomas called the meeting of the board to order at 6:01 p.m.  Roll call was taken with the following members present: Sams-Thomas, Matt Love, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, and Camille Redman.  Absent: Laura Hale.  Also present:  Executive Director Bobbi Perryman and Youth Services Manager Melissa Snow, back from maternity leave.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes:  The minutes from February 12, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Love.

 

Approval of Bills—None

 

Correspondence—None

 

Staff Reports—

• Mango Language training was completed, and the portal is now live.  Cost is $1200 for 72 languages, plus $400 for learning sign language for an additional $400.  Twenty-three people are currently learning sign language.

• The library co-hosted a Meet-the-Candidates Event on March 5.  All six candidates were present and filmed by Marcus Woods for a 30-minute You-Tube presentation on our channel.  The forum lasted a full two hours and included lots of good questions from the audience.

• Digital circulation is way up.  Only DVDs are down.

• Youth cards are way up, particularly from Douglas School.

• As of today, Minecraft is now on the library’s computers.

• Snow began working with Emily Dunham on the Summer Reading Kick-Off May 31.  The theme this year is “Color Our World.”  Monical’s is contributing completion prizes of free individual pizzas.

Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance—The audit is done and filed.  A $12,500 fee has been proposed for the audit for next year.  Dan Hawk from ENTEC outlined a payment schedule for the HVAC work so the library can plan ahead to have the monies available when needed.  The first payment in March for the equipment is estimated to be $217,000.  Work will begin in June or July, with another $217,000 due then.  Twenty percent ($431,000) will be due in each of the months of September, October, and November, with another $217,000 due in December, $108,000 in January, and $108,000iIn February, for $2.2 million in all.  The finance committee suggests a finance source to avoid wiping out all of our money.

2. Property—Maintenance Supervisor Lucas Snow is working with Thomas Meyen from the Friends of the Library on the canopy for the outdoor seating area.  Friends President Katrina Held will be looking for donations ($5,000) at the Chamber of Commerce Business Expo the last week in March.  The final drawings for the HVAC update are due this week.  Two companies want to bid again on the project.

3. Personnel—Twenty-one people applied for the position vacated by part-time clerk April Harvey.  Seven were interviewed.  Anton Meyen was hired and started yesterday.

4. Policy—None

 

Business Items:

1. HVAC Final Plan Approval—tabled since it is not in yet.

2. ENTEC Annual Maintenance Agreement Approval for the current system—Cost is $18,788, about $1,000 more than last year.  The amount will be revised down when the new HVAC system is in place.  Adams moved to accept the agreement, with the provision that the plan to revise cost downward after the new system is in is included.  The board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

 

Announcements—The library will be closed April 4 for the meeting of Reaching Forward South.

 

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

 

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

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams

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April 9, 2025 - Minutes (Approved 5/14/25)

 

Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL 61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

April 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, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, and Camille Redman. Absent: Matt Love. Also present: Executive Director Bobbi Perryman, Maintenance Supervisor Lucas Snow, and Dan Hawk, ENTEC HVAC Project Development Manager.

 

Corrections or additions to the minutes: The minutes from March 12, 2025, were approved by voice vote on a motion by Sams-Thomas.

 

Approval of Bills—None

 

Correspondence—None

 

Staff Reports—

   • According to Perryman, a good chunk of the staff attended the Reaching Forward South           conference in Effingham on Friday, April 4, and returned with many good ideas.

   • Youth Services Manager Melissa Snow met with Logan Janecki, former employee,

     update how the library holds Magic and DND for teens.

   • Adding additional passive programming on the children’s floor and to the young adult area

     has helped with numbers. 

   • Computer usage is up after many years going down. Adding Minecraft and other games

     helped. ABC Mouse usage has doubled.

   • Free services are up 223 percent. This includes notary services and Mango languages

     learning. Digital numbers are up 21 percent. In-person visits were up in March.

 

Standing Committee Reports

   a. Finance—none

   b. Property—The library received a $10,000 grant from Libraries Transforming Communities,

       whose theme this year was access. The library has held a communications session with

       Encore and will also do so May 9 with the general population with disabilities on using the

       grant. The curb has been taken off the concrete pad in the outdoor seating area. Thomas

       Meyen from the Friends of the Library is coordinating with K & K Konstruction on work for

       the canopy for the outdoor seating shaded area. Fundraising so far has brought in $550

       toward the goal of $5,000 for the canopy.

   c. Personnel—none

   d. Policy—None

 

Business Items:

   a. HVAC Final Plan Approval—Adams moved that the board approve the final plan of the

       project from ENTEC at a cost of $2,201, 652. The motion passed unanimously. Ninety

       percent of the HVAC equipment will be coming from Canada and will be ordered tomorrow.

       The big equipment should arrive in 12 to 14 weeks. Work on the project is expected to

       begin in August.

 

Announcements—Following the April 1 election, the reorganization of the board will be held at the May meeting.

 

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

 

The next meeting is Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at 6 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams​

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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 Pending Approval

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​July 9, 2025 - Agenda

Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Board of Trustees’ Meeting

AGENDA

Wednesday, July 9, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.

Revere Ware Room at Vespasian Warner Public Library

310 N. Quincy St., Clinton, IL

 

Roll Call : Laura Hale, Janelle Sams-Thomas, Matt Love, Becky Adams, Stephanie Coonce, Clay Held, Camille Redman

 

Public Comment: Visitors are asked to introduce themselves at this time and present any issues they wish to discuss. Visitors wishing to address specific agenda items will be granted two to five minutes at the discretion of the President, not to exceed a total of twenty minutes

 

1. Corrections or additions to the minutes

2. Approval of Bills

3. Correspondence

4. Staff Reports

5. Standing Committee Reports

   a. Finance –

   b. Property –

   c. Personnel –

   d. Policy –

6. Business Items - Potential Board Action

   a. Review/Approve Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance

   b. Review/Approve Tentative Budget and Appropriation Ordinance

   c. Appointment of two trustees to audit FY 24/25 minutes for IPLAR

7. Announcements –

8. Adjournment – Next meeting: Wednesday, August 13, 2025 at 6:00 pm

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August 20, 2025

September 10, 2025

October 8, 2025

November 12, 2025

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.