Lawton Memorial Library Board Meeting

              Regular Board Meeting          Monday, November 22, 2021

                                                                                                 

*9:00 a.m. Chair Barbara Melvin called the meeting to order.

 

*Roll Call – All board members present: Melvin, Carol Persons, Gail Muller, Georgia Everson, Donna Niles, Gwendolyn Hatfield, and Kimberly Walker. Also present was Interim Librarian Becky Hooker.     

               

*Verification of posting at the Bank, Post Office, and Village Office on November 18, 2021, was given.

    

*Hatfield moved, Muller seconded to convene into closed session, in accordance with Wisconsin State Statutes section 19.85 (1)(c), for consideration of hiring a candidate for the Library Director position, and other personnel matters. (Carried).        **Closed Session**  

 

*Niles moved, Hatfield seconded to convene into open session and continue with the meeting. (Carried).

 

*Hatfield moved, Niles seconded to approve the minutes from the meetings on October 12, 2021, November 9, 2021, and November 15, 2021. (Carried).

                                   

*Financial report: Reviewed the report from 1/1/2021 thru 10/31/2021. The balance is $29,811.43. Of this amount, $478.35 is resource grant funds, $564.63 Gates grant funds, and $1,184.50 Cropp grant funds. This leaves an operating budget of $27,583.95. The savings account has $29,792.18, plus the 2 CD’s of $3,971.08 and $9,570.62. Persons moved, Muller seconded to approve the financial report. (Carried).

 

*Statistical Report: Becky reported circulation/patron usage is still good. It hasn’t dropped off. And making 25-30 craft bags weekly.

 

*Directors Report:

**Becky has continued the column for the newspaper and is keeping the webpage updated.

**Set up a table in the meeting room for the Friends of the Library book sale. Been expanding the usage of the meeting room more, as getting a few requests. The Mahjong and Knitting groups are currently using the Community center. The Page Turners meet thru Zoom.     

**Online story time does not get a lot of response. The board felt people can access YouTube to see books.  

**The graphic novels collection arrived.

**The big supply of yarn we had has been used a lot by a person making a whole bunch of hats. Becky took 50 to school and asked if anyone knows of others that could use them, to let her know.

**Becky said she appreciated the volunteers and subs help. Things are not possible without their help.

 

*Friends Update: The Friends are decorating a tree in Bean Park and the library board is decorating the tree off the patio area.

 

*Business:

**Hatfield moved, Niles seconded to approve hiring Lisa Ahler for the Library Director and approve the compensation packages as was discussed in closed session. (Carried). 

 

**Closed dates for 2022:

      Saturday, January 1st - New Years’ Day       

              Monday, January 3rd – New Years

              Saturday, May 28th and Monday, May 30th - Memorial Day

                   (Extra day for the Good Friday Holiday not taken)

              Monday, July 4th - Independence Day

      Saturday, September 3rd and Monday, September 5th - Labor Day

                   (Extra day for Thanksgiving that always falls on Thursday, which is a closed day)

      Wednesday, November 23rd – closing at 6 p.m. for Thanksgiving 

      Friday, November 25th - Thanksgiving 

              Saturday December 24th and Monday, December 26th – Christmas

              Saturday December 31st and Monday, January 2nd, 2023 - New Years

*Everson moved, Muller seconded to approve the closed dates as stated. (Carried).

 

**Covid Guidelines: Becky passed out a sheet from April on the changing of the services. It had 7 Phases for reopening guidelines. We are at Phase 5 which says: Holds can be picked up at the desk, computer use and browsing don’t require appointments, curbside service will continue, and there is a limit on the amount of people in the library at a time. She gave a report on a survey taken of 19 area libraries. Sixteen are fully open and 3 are limited. Six require masks, 7 request them, and 6 are no masks. We have been doing curbside since COVID, and this has become very popular.

*Also reviewed the Browsing Policies. The board had no problem with people doing these and said we don’t need #8, saying any materials you touch, but aren’t going to check out, be placed in bins.

**Becky inquired of the furniture. The board said to put it back out for use and okayed the use of the meeting room area for up to 8 people.       

 

**WiFi Accessibility: Back in 2017, had some problems, so it was turned off for public use at 6 p.m. Becky checked with other places, and theirs are accessible 24/7. Becky will check with our Police Chief to see if he has any issues, and if not, will turn it back on full time.

 

*Public comments: Persons commented it was the best thing putting in the cameras at the library. With the library and park activity, the village Police Chief has used them numerous times.      

  

*The next meeting was scheduled for January 18, 2022, at 6:15 p.m.  

  

*Muller moved, Hatfield seconded to adjourn. (Carried). Adjourned at 10:33 a.m.

 

Kimberly Walker, Village Clerk/Treasurer