May 12, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes

St. Elmo Library District 

311 W Cumberland Road

St. Elmo, IL 62458

The St. Elmo District Library Board Meeting was held Tuesday, May 12, 2022 at the St. Elmo Public Library.

Board members present were Vice President, K Arnold, Hord,  Hough, Kamnick, B. Koberlein and Director Karnes.

No guests were present.

The meeting was called to order by Vice President, K Arnold at 6:02 p.m.

Minutes of the 4/14/2022 meeting were read. Hord made a motion to accept the minutes as read, seconded by Kamnick. Motion carried

The financial statement was reviewed. In discussion on the financial statement, Amazon and Arab still had a check outstanding.  More memorials were deposited in the foundation.  Our PPR tax was $700. The book sale made $147.  Light fixture was exchanged and noted to the treasures report. A new vacuum cleaner was purchased from Triad Industrial Supply Company. Payroll increased, due to three payrolls in April. There was a lot of discussion about the non-lease signing in Beecher City and the lack of the refund check being cashed. Discussion was made about sending the notice of them not cashing the check and possibly having Rick Day’s office sending them a certified letter.  Everything, as far as the remodeling and construction is fairly rapped up. A motion was made by Hord and seconded by Hough to approve the treasurer’s report and pay the bills.

During the Librarian’s Report, Director Karnes mentioned that St. Elmo’s Library circulation is still going as well as Beecher City’s numbers. Brownstown’s numbers are lightly down. E-books were slightly down in usage. Beecher City Branch Library issued seven new cards this past month. 

Director Karnes discussed the fact that our E-rate savings this year was $3897.18. Discussion was made about getting new chairs across from Kim’s desk in her office, due to the fact that the current chairs are very uncomfortable. Kim was able to find a set of two chairs for $139.00 with a shipping charge of $14.99. 

Old business included discussion of the Reading Garden and the fact that Derrick Moore has started on it. The rock is in place and the large bush pile has been removed. The fencing has been removed and the other fencing has been painted. 
Discussion was held about the Beecher City Memorial. Part of the funds will got for shelving the the kids section of the Beecher City Library. Kathy was able to locate a monument company in Breeze, IL that sounds perfect for making the memorial rock in honor of JoAnn.  The cost of the stone would be $1001.00 and with the engraving. Kamnick made a motion was made that the board have the work done by Illusion River Engraving out of Breeze, IL., seconded by Hord.  Motion carried. 
There was a discussion about watering the flowers at Beecher City Branch Library and how that can be accomplished. The plumbing at the Beecher City Branch Library is still a problem. The city is having a difficult time of trying to find the root of the problem. Doug Gordon of the city of Beecher City feels the problem may be with the man hole in front of the library. When installed, the man holes were positioned in the ditches and heavy rain floods over the man hole covers, thus causing the flushing issues at the library. Karnes said she believes it has to do with the septic tank being flooded in heavy rains.
Open House will take place June 4, 2022 with the hours being 10:00 am. –  2:00 pm. There was a lot of discussion about advertising, parking and refreshments being placed in the reading garden. Plans to have t-shirts made for all board members and staff were discussed.  
Director Karnes and others are still looking at vanities for the employee’s bathroom.  They hope to have it installed by the Open House in June.
As far as mowing bids, we had two bids offered. The bid for the St. Elmo location was offered to our custodian, J.D. and accepted.  Kathy Spitler had a riding lawnmower available, which was only used twice.  It was repaired for $60 and an hour of work will be added onto his paycheck each week. A gas can was available from Tony and the library board will be paying for the gas. If it takes J.D. longer than an hour to mow, payment will be adjusted. Ryan Waugh from Beecher City offered to mow again this year for $150. He had to raise his prices due to fuel prices going up. Motion was made by Kamnick to accept the bid from Ryan Waugh of R&H Interprises to accept the mowing bid for Beecher City Branch Library and to accept the offer from J.D. to do the mowing at the St. Elmo Library and seconded by Hough.  The motion passed.
Discussion was made about getting in touch with Dale Straugh about repairs to the back roof.
Mary Magnus from City Hall contacted Director Karnes saying that the board needs to send a letter to the City of St. Elmo, saying the St. Elmo Library Board wants to cancel the lease for the ground where the Memorial Wall now stands.  Director Karnes drew up a letter that looked good to the board members. Hord made a motion stating 

that we were terminating the lease on the ground were the Memorial Wall currently stands.  Kamnick seconded it.  Motion passed.  

The meeting dates from July 2022 – June 2023 were given out.  B. Koberlein made a motion to approve the dates and it was seconded by Hord.  The motion was approved.A public hearing will be held July 14, visitors will be allowed to speak 10 minutes before the regular scheduled business meeting.

Non-resident fees were discussed and decided to stay with the current property tax rating. A motion by Hord and seconded by Kamnick.  The motion was approved.
Discussion was made about the Book Mobile for $40,000 and still needed some work. The thought about having a Book Mobile was put on hold.
A motion to adjourn was made by Kamnick and seconded by Hough. The meeting was adjourned at 7:54 p.m.

up quite a bit and computer use is rising. Kim was going to make a phone call of when the two computers that are ready could be installed. 

Memorial money was given in honor of Dan Blair.  It was mentioned that he was at the St. Elmo Library many times fixing things, so Director Karnes mentioned getting a tool box, since the library doesn’t currently have one. 

Discussion was made about having a suggestion box available for comments. 

Discussion was made about possibly changing with the power companies for the Brownstown Library. The board decided to stick Ameren.  

Two of the three of bathroom stools are installed. 

Fulk Construction costs for St. Elmo Library and Museum doors that need replacing are, the Museum door would be $4,600 and the Library very back double doors would be $9,700. They will also put vinyl along the sides. The cost to replace the flooring in the employee bathroom would be $530. Plans are to install that flooring May 2, 2022. 

The vanity in the employee bathroom needs to be replaced. Paint color for the back room was discussed. Kim was going to check out availability. 

The American Legion is now taking over the War Memorial Wall.  It will not be moving, due to the cost. We need to cancel the insurance by May 31. The use of our tax exempt number needs to be discontinued.

The Beecher City Memorial stone is available at the Home Center in Altamont.  We will be able pick out the stone, when it is available, and they will do the lettering. 

Beecher City sewer line is on hold, due to the fact that no one has getting back to Tony.

Plans for the Open House are coming together.  The performer will be doing Betsy Ross, Home Town Treats will be doing cookies for the event, book sets have been ordered as giveaways for the kids. Several individuals have offered to donate to the event. Terri Dial is going to make up a jelly and jam basket, Mandy Miller is going to make up Avon bundles, Daryl’s Dine In will be donating ice cream coupons, United Fidelity Bank said they would donate something, if we let them know what we want and they have offered to send volunteers to help out. Discussion was made about announcing the open house in different medias. A banner announcing the open house and signs around town was suggested.  The lack of parking was a discussed. 

Mowing bids for St. Elmo and Beecher City were discussed. Kim was directed to advertise for someone to mow.

The motion was made by Crawford to close the meeting and seconded by Kamnick.  The meeting was closed at 7:15.