McLean County Times

Carlock Public Library District Board met March 19.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

President Beth Wagner called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm. Other Board members present were David Garrison, Nick Birky, and Kevin Moore. Mike Miller and Laura Stephenson were absent. Trustee Dawn Neblock was sworn in. Library Director Christie Lau was in attendance. The meeting was recorded.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Board of Trustees business

• Oath of Office: Newly appointed trustee Dawn Neblock was sworn in.

• Election of Officers: Beth nominated Nick Birky as Vice President; Dave seconded. Motion carried.

• Open Meetings Act (OMA) Officer: Kevin Moore will assume this role, effective immediately.

• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer: Director Christie Lau remains the primary FOIA officer. Dave Garrison will assume the role of back-up FOIA Officer, effective immediately.

• Committee Appointments

o Finance Committee: Dave Garrison will remain chair of the committee. Beth, Nick, Dawn, and Kevin volunteered to serve on the committee. Laura and Mike will have the opportunity at the next meeting to join the committee.

o Policy Committee: Beth Wagner will remain chair of the committee. Dave, Nick, Dawn, and Kevin volunteered to serve on the committee. Laura and Mike will have the opportunity at the next meeting to join the committee.

Correspondence: A letter of resignation was received from staff member Kristie King. Public Comment: There were no visitors or public comments.

Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the February 20, 2024, meeting were reviewed. With no additions or corrections, they stand approved as printed.

Reports:

Director’s Report: Christie reviewed circulation, cards issued, current users, active users, and attendance statistics. The number of cards issued is down, but all other numbers remain steady or have increased.

Christie also reviewed circulation by audience numbers for February, which indicate that approximately 50% of adult checkouts were done on digital platforms. Children’s checkouts are predominantly physical materials. Teen/young adult checkouts remain low, but are split between physical material and digital platforms. Christie recently talked with the Parkside Junior High IMC Specialist (librarian) to streamline the process for ensuring junior high students who live in the library’s district have an active library card. The IMC Specialist helps students connect with their public library’s digital resources. We are currently waiting to receive the list in order to move forward.

Program attendance was 372 in February. Story Time and Home School Hangout continue to be the most popular programs. All classes from the Carlock Elementary School, except 5th grade, visited the library during February.

There were no President’s or Secretary’s Reports.

Finance Committee: The Finance Committee met on March 7 and discussed the 2024 Salary Schedule and preliminary/draft documents related to the fiscal year 2025 budget. They recommended presenting the salary schedule to the Board for review and approval.

Policy Committee: The Policy Committee met on March 7, and discussed the 2024 Salary Schedule. They also reviewed the library’s Mission and Vision statements. The committee recommended presenting both the salary schedule and the mission and vision statements to the Board for review and approval.

Financial Reports:

• Dave reviewed the Financial Funds Overview document. This document outlines the accounting funds and corresponding bank accounts used by the library.

• Dave also reviewed the February 2024 Financial Statements.

• The 2024 McLean County Tax Computation form was shared.

Old Business:

Library Security: Dave has had preliminary conversations regarding cameras. He will continue investigating hard-wired vs wi-fi systems and report his findings in a future meeting.

New Business:

Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Preparation

• The 2024 Salary Schedule that was reviewed and recommended by both the Finance and Policy Committees was reviewed. Beth motioned to accept the Salary Schedule. Nick seconded. The motion was unanimously approved.

• Trustees then reviewed and discussed the FY25 budget worksheet and summary of anticipated expenses and income. Dave reviewed how the estimates were determined for the recommended levy amounts for the Social Security and Insurance Liability Funds. No action was requested; the Finance Committee will continue working on budget and levy preparations.

Resource Sharing Alliance (RSA)

• RSA is undertaking a project (“RSA Independence Project”) to divest itself from RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Libraries System).

• At this time, they are asking RSA members to sign an intergovernmental agreement (IGA), which will allow RSA to convert from a Not for Profit organization to an Illinois Intergovernmental Instrumentality (government entity). Signed IGAs are needed from at least 72 of RSA’s 142 members for this governance change. The governance change is scheduled to be effective July 1, 2024.

• The Board reviewed several documents related to the project:

o RAILS / RSA: What are the differences?

▪ RAILS is a regional library system, a government agency that provides services to libraries in the northern and west-central areas of Illinois. It is one of three state funded regional library agencies in Illinois. RAILS members do not pay dues to be part of the system.

▪ RSA is a library automation consortium. It is one of six LLSAP (Local Library System Automation Project) consortia in Illinois. RSA members pay annual fees to be part of the consortium. Currently, RSA is the only LLSAP that retains direct operational and staffing services from RAILS; all other LLSAPs operate as independent organizations.

o Value of RSA Membership

▪ Provides shared catalog/materials with other RSA member libraries (fulfills statutory requirements for resource-sharing obligations).

▪ Provides library automation system/software to power circulation, maintain patron accounts, and track inventory.

▪ Provides lower-cost access to electronic materials on digital platforms.

o Fee structure from FY2025 – FY2029

▪ To cover the costs of operational independence, RSA will increase membership fees over the next five years. RSA has been able to keep membership fees lower than other automation consortia due to its direct operational support from RAILS; however RAILS requires RSA to move to independent operations by July 2, 2026.

▪ Membership fees:

• FY2024 = $1,750

• FY2025 = $1,900

• FY2026 = $2,836

• FY2027 = $3,773

• FY2028 = $4,709

• FY2029 = $5,645

RSA has posted additional information about this Independence Project on its website. Signing the IGA does not obligate the library to continue RSA membership. Dave made a motion to sign the Intergovernmental Agreement Establishing Resource Sharing Alliance and Authorizing Membership in Resource Sharing Alliance. Beth seconded the motion. The motion was carried unanimously.

Library Mission and Vision Statements: The Policy Committee recommended no changes to the current library mission and vision statements. After reviewing these statements, Kevin made a motion to approve the Library Mission and Vision Statement. Dave seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.

Required Trustee Training: Christie reviewed the required training for Trustees:

o All elected or appointed Board Members must complete sexual harassment prevention training each year. Training is available on the Illinois Department of Human Rights website or a hard copy is available from Christie

o All elected or appointed Board Members must complete Open Meetings Act (OMA) training once during each term of office. OMA Officers must complete the training each year. Training is available on the Illinois Attorney General website.

o Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officers are required to complete FOIA training each year. Training is available on the Illinois Attorney General website.

Completed training certificates should be returned to Christie.

Closed Session: The Board went into Closed Session at 8:56 pm to discuss staff salary recommendations.

The Board returned to Open Session at 9:39 pm and proceeded with New Business. o Kevin made a motion to pay the janitor salary from the Building and Maintenance Fund rather than the Corporate General Fund. Dave seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

o Beth made a motion to approve the staff salary recommendations presented by Christie. Nick seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

Being no further business, a motion was made by Dave to adjourn; seconded by Nick. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:44 pm. The next regular meeting will be held Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at 6:30 pm.

https://www.carlocklibrary.com/files/0e0a36789/March+19%2C+2024+Minutes.pdf