Board of Trustees & Committees

Vespasian Warner Public Library District

Clinton, IL  61727

Board of Trustees Meeting

June 10, 2026

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President Laura Hale called the Board of Trustees meeting to order at 6 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, Youth Services Manager Melissa Snow, and Maintenance Supervisor Lucas Snow.

Corrections or additions to the minutes:  The corrected minutes from May 13 were approved by voice vote on a motion by Sams-Thomas.

Approval of Bills—none

Correspondence—none

Staff Reports

• Perryman will be on vacation June 12-17.

• Perryman has a tentative appropriations draft with salaries to present in July.

• Wi-Fi is up and working correctly, but was not registering log-ins before.

• Videos are up.  People seem to be tired of streaming.  Foot traffic is up quite a bit.

• Summer Reading Kick-Off went well.  Melissa Snow went to all schools to promote Summer Reading and also the all the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade English classes.  Through June 8, 550 had registered for the program.

Standing Committee Reports

1. Finance—none

2. Property—HVAC Update.  No sprinklers were in the drawings for the old building.  ENTEC is working on new drawings.  No dry wall work is in the plans for the old building.  There will be some exposed ductwork painted bronze.  The museum room will have floor grates to work with an open fan on the air handler in the basement.  Humidity has been 40 percent or lower.  Lucas Snow liked the new plan better.  The periodicals room is now closed during construction.   The air handler that has been ordered may go outside.  ENTEC may eat the cost of the smaller one planned.  The boiler is not online yet.  They are doing pressure testing.  The electricians will be doing their work soon.  People are putting power in the new pavilion today.  The Friends of the Library are paying for this.  Tyler Morris of KTM Landscaping of Wapella is working beside the parking lot.  AAK Mechanical is doing the bike rack frame.

3. Personnel—Coonce and Hale are working with Perryman on staff wage increases.

4. Policy—A new state law requires a statement saying if we use AI in employment.  We do not use AI for this at all.  Perryman is looking into whether we need a statement about this.

Business Items:

1. Audit Engagement letter—The proposed contract is with SKCO, the firm that has done the audit for the last two years.  Perryman expects the cost will be about $13,000, which is lower than the cost of the library’s former audit firm.  Coonce’s motion that we approve the contract passed by voice vote.

2. Addition of Elan Credit Services to list of vendors approved for electronic payments—The library has had two late fees from them because mailed payments were processed slowly.  One of the two were waived.  Held’s motion that we add them to the approved list for electronic payments passed by voice vote.

3. Non-Resident Program Participation for FY 26/27—Adams’s motion that we continue allowing non-residents to pay for library cards through the tax bill option passed by voice vote.

4. Set meeting dates for FY 26/27—Redman moved that the board continue to meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m., with the exception of August, when the meeting will be on August 19 to allow for public viewing of the proposed budget for the period required by law.  The motion passed by voice vote.

5. Appointment of two trustees to review closed session minutes—Hale appointed Redman and Sam-Thomas.

6. Review of Standards for Illinois Libraries—Programming—All of our library programs are free.  We also have podcasts, blogs, and a You-Tube channel.  Rachel Deavers is in charge of our blog.  Terri Lemmel, who writes about genealogy, does our most popular article.  An ASL interpreter is available for our programs, if needed.  Do we need a survey to see if sensory programs are needed?  The library’s programs are evaluated.  All participants get an email for this.  The library tries to provide a variety of programs to appeal to a variety of people.

Announcements—Trustee Held has been a part of IHLS now for three months.  He is on their Finance Committee and their Deliveries and Facilities Committee (which has not met yet).  It is a big network of people, funded by IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library).  The group works on advocacy for library concerns, such as the high cost of e-book pricing for libraries.  They also have an ILA kit called “Ready, Set, Advocate” for all levels.

Adjournment—On a motion by Redman, the meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.  Motion passed by voice vote.

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

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Adams