Homer Community Library
Board Meeting Minutes
Sept. 12, 2023

Present: Chantelle Thompson, Jillian Weathers, Christine Cunningham Library Director, Becci Powers, Casey Phillips, Joe Rice, Troy Schiff, and Alice Kirby

Absent: none

Visitors: Cindy Happ for Friends of the Library

Call To Order: Jillian called the meeting to order at 7:07pm

Public Comment: none

Friends of the Library: Cindy Happ reported that the puppet show held for the participants of the End of Summer Reading Program went well. The group is planning a bookmark design contest for K-12 students along with an adult category and a Tea Party event for mid-November. They are also planning a murder mystery dinner theater fundraiser for late fall/winter. Local book author signing event has been tabled due to scheduling conflicts with the authors. The Friends will be present for the Broadlands Festival with their Pick-a-Pin booth and running the book sale during Homer’s town wide garage sales. Cindy was happy to inform everyone that membership is up and when given the option to pay $10 membership fee, members chose to pay that.

Secretary’s Report: Becci moved to accept August’s minutes, Chantelle seconded. Motion passed and report approved.

Treasurer’s Report: Becci noted that a Per Capita Grant of $1,582.68 came in along with a Tax Levy amount of $2,938.64. There’s a 12 month CD maturing mid-month that she is moving into a 3 month high yield CD to benefit from the current interest rates. They also received a gift of $163 specified for STEM materials.

Budget Report: The grand total is $118,904.63 with a gain of $1,485.12. Joe moved to approve Visa Debit charges from Amazon, Thrift Books, Office Depot, and First Book totaling $472.84, Troy seconded, motion carried

Bills: The bills are Baker & Taylor $329.32, Scholastic for RIFF $166.16, and annual renewal of LibraryWorld, Inc for $495. Troy moved to approve these charges, Chantelle seconded, motion carried. Other bills to note is IL Dept of Revenue $60.99

Librarian’s Report: See full report attached. Christine reported that she will need to take leave immediately after tonight’s meeting to travel out of state for a family emergency. The Library’s Open House is Sept 18 and she advised that help will be needed. June is still assisting but there is need for another substitute as Christine may need to take additional time off and there is an upcoming vacancy for assistant librarian to begin planning for as well. Christine will reach out to Rachel Smith to gauge interest for the sub position. 
There has been a technology issue discovered with Edge causing a possible security risk and Chantelle stated that she and Chris Thompson will address that immediately.
They also added 3 books about the Potawatomi Tribe and Trail of Death as we welcome the Memorial Caravan that will be passing through this month.
Christine and staff collected over 20 elementary/middle school age books to donate to Heritage’s book vending machine along with bookmarks. 

OLD BUSINESS

New Trustee Ideas:Christine is talking to a volunteer firefighter and he will be checking with his Chief about scheduling to determine if he can attend the Board’s monthly meeting. Continue to encourage interested candidates to come to a meeting!

Policy Review: No concerns at the moment, but will continue this process
	
NEW BUSINESS

Plan for Halloween: The Homer Recreation board will be hosting a village Halloween party on Tues, Oct 31 4-7:00pm in the parking lot so the library will plan for visitors during normal hours

RIFF Kickoff: They are waiting on bus transportation availability to set a date but event will be on a Wednesday in October/early November

Library Card sign up (AR books, renewals, etc.)- Open House is set for Sept. 18 

Assistant Librarian upcoming vacancy: Alice’s projected last day will be Nov. 1 so ideally would like a trainee to begin around Oct. 16. Advertising will start immediately on Facebook and at the Library with the deadline for applications set for Sept. 29. Starting pay at $14/hr with a 6 month review for salary increase. PC training will focus on Christine’s station for continuity with soft/hardware as the Library updates their computers.

Winter holiday closures and compensation: Library will be closed for Christmas Dec. 23-25 and New Year’s Dec. 30-Jan. 1

Adjourn: Joe moved to adjourn meeting at 7:52pm and Troy seconded. Motion carried.

Submitted by Casey Phillips, Secretary