Lawton Memorial Library Board Meeting

              Regular Board Meeting          Tuesday, January 18, 2022

                                                                                                  

*6:30 p.m. Chair Barbara Melvin called the meeting to order at the Lawton Memorial Library. Roll Call was taken with all board members present: Melvin, Donna Niles, Gail Muller, Carol Persons (zoom), Georgia Everson (zoom), Gwendolyn Hatfield (zoom), and Kimberly Walker. Also present was new Librarian Lisa Ahler. (Due to problems connecting to Zoom, the meeting started 15 minutes late).    

 

*Verification of posting at the Bank, Post Office, and Village Office on January 13, 2022, was given.

(Meeting was posted for using Zoom or attending in person).   

 

*Niles moved, Muller seconded to approve the minutes from the November 22, 2021, meeting. (Carried).

                                   

*Financial report: Reviewed the 2021 year. The ending balance was a positive $14,508.33. Contributing to this is the previous librarian quitting in October, no health insurance premiums being paid for 2 months, less retirement costs, etc. There are carryovers of $478.35 in resource grant funds, $564.63 in the Gates grant, and $1,184.50 for the Cropp grant, leaving an operating budget of $12,280.85. The savings has $29,795.93, plus the 2 CDs of $3,975.04 and $9,577.78. Hatfield moved, Muller seconded to approve the financial report and to move the remaining budget balance amount of $12,280.85 to the library savings account. (Carried).

 

*Statistical Report: Lisa said she’s still learning how to use the software. She reviewed the monthly circulation numbers. For 2021, had an approximate total of 10,910. Comparisons from 2019 and 2020 showed a decrease, but it’s not bad for what’s going on. She shared info from WRLS on a service status report they had conducted on what libraries are doing during this COVID time and had a circulation activity chart. In the future, instead of passing out graph reports, etc., it was decided for Lisa to just give us the details.    

 

*Friends Update: Nothing new to update. 

 

*Directors Report:

**Lisa said her first month’s been very busy. She thanked everyone for the warm welcome.

**She had a visit from Kristen and Walter from WRLS to help her in the new job. Due to her experience, she didn’t have to go thru the whole training. Walter mentioned replacing the Circ computer before long. It’s old and slow.

**Been busy reorganizing and cleaning. Found a lot of old electronic equipment to be disposed of. Walter took it away for us.  

**Curbside pickup was moved to inside the entryway due to weather. May keep it there, as it’s going well.

**The meeting room is being used more. It’s limited to 8, with masks & social distancing required.

**Received a $5,000 anonymous donation. Half is to be used for solar and energy related items, and the other half can be used for what we see fit.

**Lisa reached out to 7 area libraries, asking about DVDs being left in the cases on the shelves. None take them out anymore and they haven’t had any problems. Lisa would like to also leave them in the cases. The board was okay with doing this.    

**Story time is still not in person but have been sharing content from other libraries.

**Page Turners book club meets thru Zoom.

**The Knitting group and Mah Jong still meet, using the Community Center.  

**Take & Make bags are still popular.

**For the winter reading challenge in February, still working on what to do.  

 

*Business:

**Covid Update: Lisa said she’s comfortable on what we’ve been doing, and the board agreed. Will keep this going for the next 2 months until we meet again. Lisa will also look at the guidelines WRLS has out.

 

 

**Revenue Tracking: Lisa would like to track the money coming in for fines, copies, faxes, to get a better idea of each. She will do an easy spreadsheet and keep track. The board was fine with this.      

 

**School Volunteers-Special Ed: A person at the school asked about having 2 special ed kids helping at the library, one at time. It was felt that maybe down the road it could work. We can’t do it now with the limited amount of people in the building at a time. Tabled for now. 

 

*Public comments: None.        

   

*The next meeting was scheduled for March 22, 2022, at 6:15 p.m.  

   

*Hatfield moved, Muller seconded to adjourn. (Carried). Adjourned at 7:08 p.m.

 

                                                                        __________________________________ 

Kimberly Walker, Village Clerk/Treasurer