September 12, 2022
Benton Public Library District
Board of Trustees Meeting
September 12, 2022
Members Present: Debbie Clark, Brian Crisp, Pat Hollada, Sue Wells, Sara Handlin, Stephanie Hart, Kathy Storey
Absent: None
Library Director: Susan Stickel
Meeting Called to Order: 5:30 pm by Debbie Clark/then Sue Wells
Approval of August Board Meeting Minutes
1st by Stephanie Hart 2nd by Kathy Storey
Payment of Bills:
1st by Brian Crisp 2nd by Pat Hollada
Financial Report:
1st by Debbie Clark 2nd by Kathy Storey
Librarian’s Report:
- F.W. Electric has been here to do fall maintenance. The pole lights are now working.
- Kyle from F.W. Electric has ordered lights to be installed in the canopy and by the office.
- The carpet and tiles have been cleaned.
- The Town and Country Gardeners will be doing the fall planting in the planters.
- Susan has bought mums for the front of the library.
- The gutters have been cleaned in the pavilion.
- We purchased a power washer to use around the library.
- Pat has had the playhouse in the Reading Garden remodeled. It has been painted, a linoleum floor put in, and concrete poured to the front entrance that was left over from another project.
- Sunrise has prepared the ground for winter.
- The pavers should be here by the end of the year to work on the asphalt.
- Susan has sent off for the Illinois Humanities Grant for $5,000.00.
- We are working on plans for a Halloween event in the Reading Garden.
- The October monthly informational calendar from Kim was included in our packet.
- The donor family’s plaque has been ordered. Curt Erwin will be including this for free.
- Rick Linton has been working on and finishing up the Reading arden.
- The logo/emblem for the library shirt was passed out and we talked about what we liked and disliked about the design.
- The auction for items in the building will be on the 27th of September. Will the fans be included? This can be decided soon. All proceeds will go to the genealogy fund.
1st by Stephanie Hart 2nd by Pat Hollada
All voted yes.
Old Business:
Personnel:
- Barb will be going to one afternoon a month.
- Susan mentioned that everything else was going well.
New Business
- Susan was appointed as an election official
1st by Sara Handlin 2nd by Debbie Clark
- Susan mentioned that we have people that can run again for election offices.
- Debbie Clark, Stephanie Hart. Sara Handlin, and Kathy Storey are all up for re-election if they choose to run. They stated they would think about it and make a decision. If they decide to run, they will need to pick up signature forms and turn them in. The first date to file papers is Dec. 12, 2022 at 9:00 AM and the last time to turn them in after a week is Dec. 19, 2022 at 5:00 PM
Other
NONE
Public Comment
Pam Teague and other friends from the genealogy group showed up to ask about the status/progress of a possible genealogy building in the area that currently was the old C&J Motors building.
Susan asked Wissinger for a sample estimate to give us an idea of what it might cost to remodel the building or build something totally new in that spot.
The remodel of the building with a 12×20 addition would cost $465,000
The remodel of the building with no addition would be $425,000
These numbers include the demo, roof, siding, bathrooms, entrance doors, HVAC, etc.
The cost to build something new that size in the location would be $665,000
The option of having the Amish build it was brought up, but might have issues.
Sealed bids would have to go out if something like this was agreed upon.
Some of the public comments about this:
“A new genealogy building would be very useful. Not a lot of privacy in the current area.”
“There were 8 people in the current area last Friday. It was very crowded.”
“If Pam’s room became available, kid’s programming cold be used in that space.”
“Pam could use the new space to hang Benton’s history like a museum.”
After all of the comments and discussion, we stated that this is a big issue to think about and we will continue to talk about it and discuss possibilities.
Adjournment: 6:33 pm
1st by Sue Wells 2nd by Debbie Clark
